John Mulvihill has called for a reaction from Cardiff Blues as they return to their home patch to face Munster on Saturday (7.35pm).
Since kicking off their Guinness PRO14 campaign with a bonus-point win over Southern Kings, Wales’ Capital Region have failed to fire and slipped to three narrow defeats.
They return to the iconic Arms Park, for just the second time this season, against Munster and Mulvihill expects his side to come flying out of the blocks.
He said: “We need to start well, compete for every piece of possession and territory to make sure we are constantly in the game and we don’t let teams like Munster get away early.
“We lost to three teams last year at the Arms Park and that was Leinster, Sarries and Glasgow, three teams that made finals, so we let ourselves down badly against Edinburgh but Munster coming here, in front of a big crowd will be massive for us and we know we need to put on a good show.
“There will be a bit of bounce back in the way that we start the game and all week we have said how we need to compete for every piece of possession and territory and make sure we always have pressure in the game.
“It’s our second home game of the season and that Edinburgh game was the most disappointing so far. We really didn’t put ourselves in the contest and we won’t be letting that happen again this week.”
Mulvihill expects a typically physical and tenacious approach from Munster, who sit at the top of Conference B with three wins from four matches.
“They will be the same old Munster,” continued Mulvihill. “They will look to get you in an arm wrestle, they will slow the ball down when they can and are very set-piece orientated. There will be a lot of kicking off nine, Haywood the full-back is a real handful if you give him space and they will create at the one end of the field.”
The Blues go into the encounter boosted by the availability of star centre Rey Lee-Lo, following his involvement in the Rugby World Cup.
Mulvihill added: “We’ve changed a couple on for, but everyone is available for selection. We’ve been pretty lucky, and our medical and S&C staff have worked pretty hard this season to make sure we’ve got players available.
“Rey is immense for us. He brings a lot of go forward, a lot of talking and assurance around the place. He is very good for Jarrod and will feed information in and out. He trained really well this week and had a great session today so we’re looking forward to seeing that spark to get us on the front foot.”