After missing the opening three rounds of action, Will Boyde admits the form of his regional team-mates fired him up ahead of his return from injury.
The former Wales under-20 international returned from a minor muscle injury during last week’s encounter against Ulster Rugby, and made a break to set up Rey Lee-Lo’s first half try. He also impressed in Cardiff Blues’ gutsy defensive performance, completing 18 tackles and winning two crucial turnovers.
In Boyde’s absence, academy graduates such as James Botham and Shane Lewis-Hughes have impressed in the opening rounds of action, with the latter winning his first international cap during the Guinness Six Nations clash against Scotland.
With the ability to play across the back row, Boyde is happy to wear any number, as long as he is on the field, and is determined to make up for lost time.
“I was itching at the bit when those boys were doing so well and I was sidelined for a while, and that made me a bit hungrier to get back,” said the back row.
“But internally we know what each other - from youngsters to those at the top - can do and it’s just a matter of getting on the stage, especially for the youngsters.
“Everyone in their careers have been there, coming through when players are out through internationals or injuries.
“It’s been Jim’s turn this time around to take it with both hands and he’s really shown at that level that he’s ready.
“He’s been doing what he’s done for years on the next stage now and it’s had all of us older heads looking over our shoulders and coming up with how we can up ourselves to compete with them because they’re leading the way.
“But for me, and the way I play, I know it’s just a cliché but it’s just a number on my back.
“Roles don’t vary too much, it’s always been a matter of hitting blokes as hard as you can and try to run over blokes when you have the ball in your hands.
“So number wise, I don’t really realise. Six, seven, eight or 20, I’ll just do the job.
“I felt a bit rough in the 48 hours after the game, as you’d expect, and it’s a strange feeling when you’ve only played two games in the last eight months.
“But it was good to get back out there and hopefully I’ve blown off plenty of cob webs.
“With the personal performance, I was happy with the way I went. I didn’t look too out of place after being out for such a long time.
“It was a minor muscle tear on my hamstring and into the calf, so it was something I could come back pretty easily with the help of the physios here.
“It was just about making sure I was coming back for the right game and that the body was all-singing, all-dancing and ready to go.
“Touch wood, I’ve had a good three or four seasons where I’ve been injury free so hopefully I can keep it that way and not have too many discussions about returning from injury.”
Cardiff Blues currently sit in second place in Conference B, after picking up two wins from the opening four Guinness PRO14 fixtures.
However, Boyde believes it there was a fine line between victory and defeat against Munster and Ulster, and remains confident that his side can turn their fortunes around.
"It’s just a little frustration in the camp at the fact that it doesn’t come down to anything that the other team does better than us,” said the back row.
“It’s just that our own mistakes are letting them in and they’re getting more scores than we are.
“We weren’t clinical when we did have the ball in our end and realistically we know it’s an easy fix.
“We are that close to being on the right side of the results. It’s been a good start, but two out of four doesn’t sound so great at the moment, but the margins are so small that we could potentially be four from four.
“We’re looking to build on that going forward, and just cut out those mistakes like simple knock ons.
“We want to put teams under pressure when we do have the ball and we know that we have the capability of scoring more points and holding onto those results.
“These Monday night fixtures are new ones to the week, and I don’t really know what day it is today.
“But I’m all fit and ready to go for another game this week. Monday for me now feels just like a Saturday. It doesn’t matter what day it is, I’m ready to play whenever we’re kitted up.
“The structure of the week is the same, it’s just on different days so it’s a matter of, when you get out of the office, getting your head around what day it is and whether I need to do the lottery or not.”