Jason Tovey says the next three Guinness PRO14 matches will be crucial in Cardiff Blues’ campaign.
John Mulvihill’s side take on Conference B rivals Connacht, Benetton and Edinburgh over the next three weeks, as the race for the play-off spots heats up.
Only 11 points separates top spot and sixth place in the highly competitive Conference, and the Blues head to Galway this evening on the back of four wins in five Championship matches.
Tovey believes his side are well-prepared for the weather conditions expected at The Sportsground, and believes opposed training sessions against Dragons and Cardiff RFC have given them match sharpness after a mid-season interval.
The outside half said: “We’ve probably not done as well as we’d like during the first half of the season but we’ve put ourselves with a chance of making the play-offs.
“These next three games will be massive for us because they’re against teams who are in our conference.
“If we can get a result in each of those, then we’ll be putting ourselves in a really good place.
“I’ve played out in Galway many times, and I don’t think I’ve once had a sunny day over there.
“I’ve been out there when it’s been hailing all game, and it is a very tough place to go. They play there most weeks and will be used to it.
“But it’s up to us to adapt to it, and we’ve actually had some bad weather in Cardiff over the last couple of weeks so have had some good training in.
“We trained against Dragons last week, which was ideal for us. We had a week off before that so to get that game intensity against an opposition was good for us and gets us ready for the Connacht. game.
“On Tuesday, we had hailstones every 10 minutes but we got the work that we needed to do. Fair play to Cardiff for turning up and letting us train with them as well.”
Tovey joined Cardiff Blues for a second time during the summer, joining from Dragons.
The playmaker, who has 176 Guinness PRO14 appearances and 951 points under his belt, is enjoying his second spell at the capital.
“When I left Edinburgh, I joined Cross Keys because I wanted to come back home. But my intention was always to play in the Welsh Prem, and hopefully do well enough for the Dragons to come knocking.
"That was my way back in and I spent the rest of the season there before Mulvers rang in the summer.
“Obviously Gareth Anscombe had left and Jarrod Evans was in the wider World Cup squad, and in the Six Nations squad now, so it left Cardiff Blues a bit short at 10.
“It was an ideal opportunity for me.
“I’ve got another year here, so we’ll see how it pans out for me. Whether my career starts to wind down after that, we’ll just have to wait to see what happens.”