John Mulvihill is excited by the challenge ahead after Cardiff Blues were drawn alongside Saracens, Glasgow Warriors and Lyon in the Heineken Champions Cup.
Wales’ Capital Region return to Europe’s top tier for the first time since 2013/14 and Mulvihill is confident his side can harness momentum from last season European success.
The Blues lifted the Challenge Cup for the second time in their history, following a dramatic 31-30 victory over Gloucester in Bilbao, during a campaign in which they also did the double over Lyon.
“You get to the Champions Cup because you’ve really achieved and had a good campaign the previous season, therefore it’s important that we give a good account of ourselves and we’re really looking forward to the challenge,” said Mulvihill.
“The boys will be able to take a lot of confidence from what they achieved in the back half of last season and we need to build on that going forward.
“As you’d expect in this competition, it is a very challenging set of fixtures, but they squad will be motivated at the prospect of facing some of the best teams around the continent in one of the best competitions in club rugby.
“Saracens’ track record over the last few years in both Europe and domestic competitions speak for themselves. They’re the current Premiership champions and facing a side of that standard is exactly why you want to compete at the top end of European club rugby.
“Glasgow topped Conference A in the PRO14 last season, and Lyon were in the top five in France, so all three teams we’ll come up against are going to be very strong. But they could be looking at us and thinking that we’re on the cusp of getting stronger.
"Cardiff Blues have had a bit of history against Glasgow Warriors and Lyon over the last couple of years, and they’re very good teams, but the test for us will be the overall competition and making sure that we can consistently get it right in those games.”
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