Josh Turnbull has challenged Cardiff to deliver the same physicality and energy against the Dragons after they ground out a BKT United Rugby Championship victory over the Scarlets.
The Blue and Blacks put their bodies on the line and were unrelenting in their physicality, tenacity and never-say-die spirit as they came away from Llanelli with a valuable four points.
It was a welcome boost following back-to-back defeats and Turnbull now wants his side to continue building with a second consecutive Welsh derby victory when they host the Dragons at Cardiff Arms Park next Saturday.
He said: “We needed a response after the week we've had. It's been pretty tough and when you lose a couple of back-to-back games, and the manner we did, you have to come back with response and get the W.
“One to 23 stood up today and physicality wins derbies. That's been our motto this week. There was a real energy with us in defence, especially the last 20 minutes when the boys were saying we win the set, we win the game and we did.
“It doesn't require any talent to chase kicks, it doesn't require any talent to get off the floor and back in the game and these are things that we base our game on. If everyone from 1 to 15 or the subs come off the bench can do that, we’re going to be in a strong place.
“The engine that we showed throughout that last 20-30 minutes was where we need to be week in, week out. In the last 20 minutes we just physically outmuscled them.
“We didn't do that against Glasgow and then we didn't deliver last week either and we had to put a performance in tonight. It's just the energy to work for each other.
“The the big thing that we spoke about in the off season was consistency and that’s what's been a little bit disappointing as we started the season really well against Munster. We haven't backed it up but now we've had another W in a real good manner, we have to go and back it up against Dragons next week.”
Cardiff host the Dragons in their first home Welsh derby of the season on Saturday, October 15 (17:15) Tickets are available now and can be purchased by clicking here.