Josh Turnbull was pleased to see Cardiff Blues showing glimpses of their attacking intent during Saturday’s Guinness PRO14 win over Scarlets at Cardiff City Stadium.
Willis Halaholo, Rey Lee-Lo and Tomos Williams all registered on the scoreboard for the hosts, who were inspired by Guinness Player of the Match, Jarrod Evans.
While tempers flared at times - leading to a couple of scuffles, two yellow cards and a red card - the experienced forward, who is fast-approaching his 150th appearance for the Arms Park outfit, believes both teams contributed to an entertaining spectacle as the festive derbies came to a close.
“That’s how we want to play, definitely. We want to unleash boys like Tomos, Jarrod and Lloyd, who will create space for the likes of Willis, Rey, Josh Adams, Nipper and Hallam Amos,” said Welsh international, Turnbull.
“We have a really exciting backline and as a forwards pack, if we can provide that platform like we have for most of the season, then we will cause teams problems.
“We now want to go away and look at that 20 minutes after half time, because that was crucial.
“I don’t know if we relaxed a little bit, but we certainly can’t piggyback teams with seven consecutive penalties and give a cheap yellow card away. That’s how we ended up with a really tight game.
“Once we’ve got the foot on the throat it’s about keeping on the throat and dig it in.
“We let them off for that 20 minutes, but I had faith in the boys to come back into it and we stuck to the game-plan of playing with tempo and physicality and knew we’d cause these teams problems.
“You have to bring your own atmosphere to these games at the end of the day.
“You haven’t got the fans here to do that for you at the moment, and a bit of niggle is always good in these derbies.
“It’s got to be done in a controlled manner, and there were a couple of occasions from both teams where we got a bit out of hand resulting in silly penalties and silly cards.
“But I can probably speak on behalf of both teams and say that those things will cost you eventually but I think, as a group, we stuck together and went out there to perform.”
The win over Scarlets means Cardiff Blues have now completed the 11 opening rounds of Guinness PRO14 action.
Reflecting on the first half of the season, Turnbull believes his side are moving in the right direction but believes they must target more consistency in the future,
“Even though we’ve lost games this year, we’ve been able to stand tall and keep our heads held high because of the performances we’ve put in,” added the utility forward.
“You think back to that Ulster game in particular, and the Munster game away, we’ve managed to cause these teams problems and these are teams towards the top of the league.
“At Leinster we went out with a depleted squad and stood up for 65 minutes until the tide turned a little bit.
“But they were learning curves, especially for the young boys who played.
“Last week we came second best in every facet of the game and that’s not what we want to be thought of as a team.
“But in the last 18 months, we’ve started to change the perception that other people have had on us and we’re a team that can stick in games now.
“After last week, there was no better occasion for us than another Welsh derby where we could bounce back against a team like Scarlets, who are playing with a lot of confidence, and go out and play against them.”