James Ratti is determined to grab his opportunities with both hands, as he prepares to take on his former side, Ospreys, in Saturday’s crucial Guinness PRO14 festive derby.
The lock, who joined Cardiff RFC at the start of the season, has earned opportunities with Cardiff Blues this season, and will partner Filo Paulo in the boiler room at Liberty Stadium.
The former Wales under-20 international says he’s enjoying his involvement with the regional set-up and he’s desperate to make sure he remains involved
“I’ve been really enjoying it. It’s great to have as much involvement as I can get and there’s been some big opportunities for me to play. It’s great to pull the jersey on,” said Ratti.
“This is the first time I’ve had a consistent run of games at this high level and I’m really enjoying it.
“I’m at the mindset now of doing everything in my power to stay around.
“Everything has to be done at that high intensity. With the positive brand of rugby that we play, you have to be running all the time.
“All the stats are coded up and there’s no place to hide.
“It’s a real competitive environment that we’ve got around at the moment. There’s a lot of quality here.
“I want to do what I can to stick around and take the opportunities as they come.”
Ratti will be facing former regional team-mates at the Liberty Stadium.
He is expecting a fierce performance from the home side on Saturday, but is hungry to get into action.
“They’ve had a bit of a difficult run at the moment, and it’s never nice to see your mates not having the greatest the easiest of times.
“But at home, if anything is for certain it’s that they’ll give a 100 per cent, so we have to make sure we bring it too.
“I’ve had a few messages from the boys over there! Gilly [Rhys Gill] says that Bradley Davies is gunning for me and we all know what Bradley is like!
“It’ll be good to get stuck in with some of those boys.
“I’ve been mates for years with Morgan Morris, who has been getting some game time at number eight and that’s great to see.
“I’m chomping at the bits. You put your friendships to one side when you cross that white line and I’ll be doing everything I can to make sure that we get a result.
“I feel like I’ve come on quite a bit in the last year. Obviously here we’re playing a different brand of rugby here, which is heavily skill-focused.
“When that backline fires it’s something special, so as forwards we want to match them because they’ll be heavy and we’ll be ready to get stuck in.”