Gareth Anscombe has called on Cardiff Blues to physically front-up to the challenge of the Ospreys on Judgement Day.
The Blues face their Welsh rivals at the Principality Stadium on Saturday and will be aiming to avenge a disappointing Guinness PRO12 defeat earlier this season.
Anscombe has been encouraged by recent performances but knows his team must match the Ospreys physicality for the full 80 minutes.
The fly-half said: “We’ve been buoyed by our last few performances, a couple of tough losses and a draw but our performances have been in the right direction.
“If you look at our last four games we’ve probably played the toughest teams in the competition. We should’ve beaten Leinster but we blew a few chances and we were winning in Ulster away with a few minutes to go.
“We’re obviously doing enough to compete with these top teams but it seems we’re not ruthless enough at times, probably without the ball and we’ll try and rectify that because that’s what’s hurting us.
“The results can get you down but we try just to worry about performance and I think looking back at the past month or so we’ve certainly improved.
“The Ospreys taught us a few lessons earlier this season, we went there full of confidence and left with our tails between our legs.
“We didn’t front up and we’ve found that in these derbies if you don’t physically front up you have a tough day at the office.
“We need to have the right attitude to front up and get stuck in and hopefully we have a chance in the last twenty minutes and see what happens.”
With a crowd in excess of 55,000 expected at the Principality Stadium there is sure to be a red-hot atmosphere as the four regions collide.
Anscombe admits Cardiff Blues will need no further motivation for the occasion and hopes they can continue to fire with ball in hand.
He added: “The last two occasions I’ve played in them they’ve been awesome. It’s a really good idea and initiative to get the four regions inside the stadium, it’s been a good couple of days we haven’t able to get on the right side of the scoreboard yet in terms of crowd numbers it’s been fantastic, it makes easier getting up for the games.
“It’s taken a long time for us to be comfortable in our game plan and to see what suits us best. We’ve really varied our attack in the last few weeks which I think has really helped us.
“In terms of not always running the ball people put us in that bracket but kicking at the right time but certainly if it’s on we want to take our chances. We feel we have a good mixture and we have guys on the edges that can cause problems for teams.
“Even though we haven’t won in the last few weeks we’ve done a fair bit of positive things to come away with each game and slowly improve. It’s been nice to be a part of, but it would be nice to get a few wins as well.
“So we’ve got to get better and the things we’re good and rectify the things that hurt us.”