Blog Banner

Hammer hunts winning edge in PRO12

11th February 2015


Director of Rugby Mark Hammett as called on his Cardiff Blues to enjoy a strong finish to the season in the Guinness PRO12 and start turning near misses into important victories.

Cardiff Blues travel the Irish Independent Park on Saturday evening to face Munster as league hostilities resume after a month of European and domestic cup action.

When the two teams met at BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park in November it was the Irish side that triumphed as a late try secured a narrow 28-24 win.

And Hammett is now urging his Blues to find that clinical edge and ensure close games are now closed out as they commence as key run of games against Munster, Treviso, Edinburgh and Connacht as they look to climb the table.

He said: “We move back into a competition in which, at times, we have played really well without getting the results. We don’t want to be a ‘so close’ team and we have got to start getting some wins.

“Our game has developed and we are happy with certain parts whereas other areas we need to continue to strengthen.

“We would like to have more width to our game and our communication and our intensity of communication needs to happen quicker and more often, particularly between forwards and backs.

“Those are the kind of small details that we hope will turn losing bonus points into wins.”

Blues will name the starting line-up on Friday but have been buoyed by the news that Welsh duo Cory Allen and Kristian Dacey have been released back to the region from international duty.

“At this time of year, like everyone, there is a mixture with our team set-up with internationals away and we have got to manage that. We will name our team later this week to the players,” added Hammett.

“The 6 Nations doesn’t change how we approach the game. We will send as strong a squad as we can and perform in a way we are proud of.

“We had a couple of guys with dead legs after the Leicester Tigers game, but we are expecting that they will be right, we will know later in the week.”