Dai Young was pleased with his side’s game management as Cardiff powered their way to a 12th consecutive competitive victory over Dragons in a thrilling derby clash at the capital.
The task wasn’t easy for the Blue and Blacks, who were reduced to 14 men for 38 minutes of the encounter following Lloyd Williams’ first half yellow card, followed by a sending off for Rey Lee-Lo.
However, a dominant performance from the pack in the set piece saw Cardiff power their way to victory and Young was pleased with how his side adjusted and identified their own strengths over the 80 minutes.
The director of rugby explained: “I was really pleased to win because a lot of things that didn’t go our way, like the yellow and red cards.
“That made it very difficult and we had to adjust. We grew up a bit as a team tonight.
“We discovered a strength at the scrum and line-out, and kept going there. In games in the past we might’ve gone away from that.
“But I was pleased with the team and found a weakness which we could exploit.
“In the first 25 minutes, Dragons were by far the better team and were first to everything.
“We were a bit passive on the gain-line and they were making too many yards. The scrum was the only area where we were on top.
“The pleasing thing was that we realised we were on top in those areas and carried on playing to them.”
Further challenges for Young’s men came in the form of first half injuries for Max Llewellyn, Corey Domachowski and Jason Harries.
But Young was delighted with how his side over-came the hurdles to treat a lively Arms Park crowd to a fully-blooded derby contest.
“The injuries do test you but you obviously talk about things in training. This year we’ve tested a lot of scenarios out and the boys adjusted pretty well,” said the former Wales prop.
“We were always chasing when they went through three or four phases, especially when Rey had his red card. If they got on the front foot we were always chasing shadows.
“But that’s why it was important that we had that dominance up front.
“I hope people enjoyed the game tonight. There was a great crowd here again and no matter who goes out there to put the jersey on, it’s still a Cardiff versus Dragons game.”