Josh Turnbull was proud to see departing Cardiff players given a fitting send-off following a bonus point win over Ospreys on the final day of the season.
The Judgement Day win was enough for the Blue and Blacks to clinch Heineken Champions Cup qualification for next season and lift the Welsh Shield.
Turnbull was delighted to see the game-plan come into fruition but admits it was an emotiona end to the campaign.
“We had a real focus from the beginning of the week about what we wanted to go out and do on the field, in terms of the way we wanted to play. We definitely did that in the first half,” said the club captain.
“We wanted to move a big, heavy pack around and we did that, and then we started to create opportunities from their errors or from transition off turnovers. That’s what we got and that’s how we capitalised.
“The words from me beforehand were about making sure we go and enjoy this occasion and give boys a good send off.
“I look back at someone like Rhys Priestland, who I’ve known since I was 15 or 16 , coming through the Scarlets academy together. We made our debut for Scarlets together, we made our debut for Wales together and probably didn’t think we’d end up finishing with Cardiff together.
“Jason Harries, I played in the second row with him at under-12s for Carmarthen District. It’s been one hell of a journey and seeing him sign off in the way he did, putting a performance in, is emotional.
“It’s emotional when you’ve known people like that and you’ve got close to them. You see people like Jarrod, Dillon and Max Llewellyn, boys who have come through the system. I’m probably going to forget someone and kick myself afterwards, but there’s som many players that we wanted to give them a good performance and send off.”
Reflecting on booking their ticket to Europe’s top table, Turnbull added: “Ultimately you want to test yourself against the best teams and the Champions Cup is where you want to be doing that.
“It’s going to be an exciting time for us. No doubt you guys in the media will put pressure on us to go and get performances and wins, but ultimately for us we’ll do that by ourselves internally.
“I don’t think you need to go over-emphasising that especially with everything that’s happened this year and what the squads look like next year.”
Turnbull also reviewed the season and believes there are plenty of reasons to be proud of the progress made over the past 12 months: “We started this season really well. We beat the Stormers, we beat the Sharks - convincingly as well. They haven’t been nilled at home for a long time.
“When you put a performance in like that, the sign of a good team is when you’re able to go back them up. Sometimes we’ve lacked consistency throughout the season.
“But, to look back at where we were against Treviso last year when they put close to 70 points on us, you see we’ve come a long way.
“The message all season has been about being consistently better at what we do, go out to enjoy training and make sure every week we’re getting better.
“For the large majority of time we’ve done that. There were stumbling blocks in there, when everything started to happen with the finances, and that was a really tough time.
“But what I’m really proud about and what I respect from the boys is how we were able to regroup ourselves and make a last push towards the end of the season.
“We got to the quarter final of Europe, being one score away from the semi final, and we’ve got Champions Cup qualification for next season which is ultimately what we wanted.”