Callum Sheedy has expressed his pride and excitement for captaining Cardiff for the first time.
The fly-half has been given the leadership duties for the Blue & Blacks BKT United Rugby Championship clash against Edinburgh on Saturday evening.
And for a player who was born and bred in the city, he admits it is a proud moment for the entire family.
“It’s obviously a very proud moment for myself and my family,” said Sheedy, who returned to Cardiff in the summer. “It’s kind of a surreal feeling being captain of your hometown club.
“It won't change a hell of a lot of how I play or speak because as 10s we’re quite vocal anyway. But I’m looking forward to getting out there and on a personal level, I'm obviously very proud.
“I captained Corpus Christi, which was good times. I captained Bristol for a season as well. It doesn't phase me too much.
“I’ll lean on the other boys in the group, your Ed Byrnes, Josh McNallys, Aled Davieses also speak a lot in huddles and stuff and so I'll just give my tactical and technical message and then they can get the boys up.
“The work's been done in the week. Coaches have prepped us really well, so as captain it's just a C next to your name but nothing really changes on the pitch.”
Following more than a decade at Bristol, guiding them from the Championship to regular Premiership contenders and European Challenge Cup winners, Sheedy is enjoying a fresh challenge in the URC.
And he is acutely aware that Edinburgh will present a formidable challenge at the Hive Stadium.
He added: “We started off pretty well this season and I just think Saturday was a real frustrating one. It's one of those who come off the pitch, thinking how didn’t we win that but play to the Scarlets, they dug in deep and we were probably naive when they were down to 13.
“But it is what it is. This league is pretty unforgiving and Edinburgh always a massive challenge to come on back at that.
“When you're in the Premiership everyone says the Premiership is unforgiving, but I feel like with the travel and everything here, the different styles of play I think this is even harder.
“I find it very interesting how you go from Zebre one week to Scarlets to Glasgow and all three are completely different in everything they do.
“We're under no illusions that this week's going to be a massive challenge, but it’s one we're really excited by.
“To be fair to them, they've got a pretty much all-court game. Their set piece is very good, they’ve obviously got a very, very good back row a nd then they've got some destructive backs, the obvious name.
“So it's going to be a massive challenge but we've got to go into these games and really attack them and really look to put our stamp on the game, imprint our game plan on them and see how they handle it.”