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Jenkins eager for European focus

9th October 2016


Gethin Jenkins is relishing the opportunity to switch focus to the European Challenge Cup following a disappointing derby defeat.

Wales’ Capital Region were humbled by the Ospreys on Friday night and admitted their performance at the Liberty Stadium was unacceptable.

They now enter the European Challenge Cup with an away trip across the Severn Bridge to face Bristol before hosting Top 14 outfit Pau.

And Cardiff Blues captain Jenkins admits it is a timely shift in competition after notching up four wins from six in the opening Guinness PRO12 season.

Jenkins said: “We had a good start to the season, we knew that last week and this week would be the toughest games and we have come up short.

“We look forward to a break from the Guinness PRO12 now and going into the European competition, we will get our heads onto that.

“It’s a change from the usual, we will pick ourselves up, after doing a lot of work, and look forward to the game.”

The Blues conceded seven tries in Swansea and uncharacteristically missed numerous tackles to hand the Ospreys the ascendant.

When asked if he could put his finger on what went wrong, Jenkins replied: “I haven’t got enough fingers. It was a really bad performance from us, we didn’t turn up.

“We managed to get a good start but they showed what a quality team they are and we just didn’t give a good account of ourselves.

“If we had had got a bonus point maybe it would have been a small consolation but we didn’t start that half like we wanted and they managed to put a few points on us.

“We will have a look on Monday and there will be some honest opinions.”