Matt Sherratt was delighted to see his Cardiff side cling on for a deserved victory over Emirates Lions in a fiercely competitive BKT United Rugby Championship clash on Friday night.
With the race to the eight intensifying, Cardiff had the opportunity to firm up their place in the play-off positions, against an in-form South African outfit just two points behind.
There was little between the two sides, with the Blue & Blacks showing signs of rust following such a stop-start period and there was a collective sigh of relief from the Arms Park crowd at full-time.
Cardiff were unfortunate not to be awarded what appeared a nailed-on penalty try in the closing stages but soon found themselves defending their own line at the death.
The Lions launched wave after wave of attacks and it appeared ominous but after so many heartbreaking results in the past 12 months, Sherratt’s men defended for their lives and held the visitors up over the line for an important win.
A relieved Sherratt said: “I thought it was penalty try if I’m honest. In that left corner we went about eight metres and they gave a penalty away about 30 centimetres from the line.
“We kind of went from winning the game there to potentially losing it, which as I always said last year, you’re not leaving early are you?
“But credit to the players at the end there as well. You don’t always get what you deserve in sport, but I do genuinely think this group has worked really hard. Over the last 18 months, we’ve been on the end of a few heartbreakers.
“So it’s brilliant to see how well they defended at the end to give Seb Davies something to celebrate on his 150th, which is a big motivator for the group.”
An interception try from Harri Millard and the 100 per cent kicking of Callum Sheedy proved the difference at the Arms Park, after the Lions powered into a second-half lead through their captain Francke Horn.
Defensive steel
The Blue & Blacks largely contained the Johannesburg-based outfit, who racked up recent wins over Hollywoodbets Sharks and DHL Stormers, with Johan Mulder’s tackle of 24-stone prop Ntlabakanye typifying the home effort.
“The Lions and a lot of the South African teams, try and run over you off nine and then get their ball to the backs in space. So we put a lot of emphasis on trying to spend time in the tackle when they were playing off a touchline with their forwards, so our backs could try and nullify their backs.
“For long periods that worked, but playing these sides is where you’ve got to be comfortable with the fact that, they’re going to have moments because you can defend well but they have players that can still score a try. So it’s about mentally accepting that sometimes and trying to stick to your game.”
Race to the Eight
The victory saw Cardiff move to fifth in the URC table and while they have a difficult run of fixtures to end the season, their chances have undoubtedly been strengthened.
Sherratt added: “We don’t often look at the table and build up fixtures, it’s probably only twice. When we played Ulster, I thought that was a pivotal game in our season and tonight was pivotal against the Lions.
“They were two points behind us. Everyone can see how tight the table is, so to pick those four points up – we said before the game it’s almost a little bit of a crossroads where we’re going to be trying to cling on into it if it didn’t go our way tonight and if it did, it puts us where we want to be at this end of this time of the season.
“There’s still some twists and turns. We’ve obviously got a pretty difficult ending. We’ve got Munster here, we’ve got the Ospreys in the stadium and then some pretty tricky away games.
“So listen, if we can keep picking up points and being in the hunt, it’s certainly a step forward from previous seasons.”