Head Coach Danny Wilson insists his Cardiff Blues must embrace the challenge ahead - as they prepare to face all four Irish provinces away from home in succession in the Guinness PRO12.
Cardiff Blues opened the season with an emphatic 61-13 win over Zebre Rugby at BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park.
However, with the stadium being transformed into an Official Fanzone for the Rugby World Cup, Blues now hit the road for the next five rounds of competition in the league.
The next four away dates see Wilson’s men hit Ireland to tackle Leinster, Connacht, Munster and Ulster – with an away trip to the RDS Arena in Dublin first up.
“It’s a very different challenge – it is certainly a first for me,” said Wilson.
“In the first five games of the season you have played all four Irish provinces away. It is a huge challenge and an interesting time to go and play them without a lot of internationals.
“On the back of the Zebre result, hopefully we can roll into those games with some confidence.
“The RDS away and Leinster is always a huge challenge at the best of times, but we have got to embrace it and look forward to it.
“They have come off a loss and we have come off a win so it will be interesting to see how both teams respond to that.
“We do have some weeks in between which will help our recovery. After we play Leinster we have two weeks before Connacht. The toughest one in terms of turnaround is Munster and then straight into Ulster in a week which is a tough.
“I’m enjoying it here,” added Wilson. “We are going to keep our feet on the ground after round one and know we have a huge amount of work to do still.
“I’m not taking anything away from Zebre, but it wasn’t the sternest test on day one for us and the next month away in Ireland is going to be a big test.
“We’re on a long-term journey here and we’ll ride the ups and downs on the way.”