Olly Robinson insists Cardiff Blues must ensure they're first out of the starting blocks, as they travel to Scotstoun Stadium to take on Glasgow Warriors on Friday.
The back row, who is the current Guinness PRO14 leader for turnovers won, reflected on October’s Heineken Champions Cup defeat to the Scottish outfit, and believes Wales’ Capital Region have learnt their lessons from the 29-12 loss.
Despite big encounters against the likes of Saracens, Dragons, Scarlets and Ospreys on the horizon, Robinson emphasised the importance of the next two Guinness PRO14 fixtures, as John Mulvihill’s side look to climb up the table in Conference A.
Robinson said: “This starts one of the most important blocks of the season for us. It’s the next block, so it’s the one we’re preparing for now, and have been for the last couple of weeks.
“Every game we play is an opportunity to represent Cardiff Blues, and not only that, but you get to represent yourself and your family.
“You should go to look to play every game as if it will be your last, and go out to enjoy it.
“It will be key for us to go out and make sure we don’t leave anything in the changing rooms. We have to go out and make sure we put them under pressure from the first whistle.
“We’ll play them four times this season, and they came out with a really fast start against us at home in the Heineken Champions Cup.
“Maybe we didn’t get out of the block, and that’s something we’re looking to make up for a little bit. We want a good start to be able to build on that and that will be important.
“They’re a great side. They’re one of the top teams in Europe and are on the top of our conference.
“They have a really good squad, and obviously with a few players missing with Scotland, but it doesn’t really change the way they want to play.
“They have really good players and it will be a big test for us to go out there and see what we can do in Glasgow on the fast track.”
Cardiff Blues have been out-of-action over the last fortnight, with an opportunity for the squad members to take a week to rest and recover following a gruelling opening block of fixtures.
Robinson believes the time was effective in order to put in some extra preparation on the training ground, and insists his side can be positive as they head into a crucial block of fixtures.
“I think it’s important in the modern day, especially with how physical the game has become, to have mid-season breaks,” said Robinson.
“It was nice to have a bit of time to recover but also to get some things in place for the next few weeks.
“There are always things we can do better. If you look at where we are in the league, it’s quite positive, as we’re a couple of points off second place in our conference.
“If you look at some of the earlier games, potentially we could and should have been further up than that as well. If other things had gone our way, and we had taken opportunities to close out games.
“But overall it looks pretty positive.”