Josh Turnbull believes the young Cardiff Blues squad will learn from their experiences as victory slipped out of their grasps in Friday’s Guinness PRO14 encounter against Munster Rugby.
Dai Young named a youthful side for the competitive return to Cardiff Arms Park, with young half back duo Ben Thomas and Jamie Hill lining up in the backline alongside 18-year-old Mason Grady, who made his first start in the Championship. Meanwhile, Wales under-20 prop Theo Bevacqua was a second half replacement, making his senior debut in the front row.
The hosts led for the majority of the opening hour, after a Seb Davies try and six points from the boot of outside half Thomas, but the Irish outfit scored 14 unanswered points - including a 78th minute score for Niall Scannell - to leave Cardiff empty handed at the final whistle.
Despite the result, utility forward Turnbull believes there were positives to take from the performance, and was impressed with how the youngsters stepped up to the occasion.
“We saw this game as an opportunity, and we were wanting to go out there to prove a point after the Connacht game,” said Turnbull.
“We stuck in the fight until the last five minutes where a couple of decisions that went against us really cost us and back-to-back penalties led them back up the field.
“They took the try well and took the game out of us. It’s disappointing that these Irish teams know how to close out a game in the last 10 minutes and squeeze the pressure a bit more and put it back on us.
“It’s disappointing not to come away with anything but as a group, especially with some young boys involved, these boys will learn from this experience and hopefully they will learn quickly and we can move on.
“There’s definitely a hunger here. We don’t want to concede tries and we want to keep going back at teams.
“We want to use our defence as an attacking weapon. Up until the final 10 minutes we’ve been able to physically dominate teams and I think you want to use that as a way of getting the ball back, win penalties or score tries from.
“It’s a big part of our game.”
The experienced Turnbull reached his latest milestone on Friday, making his 150th appearance in Cardiff Blues colours, just weeks after hitting 200 Guinness PRO14 appearances.
It was a proud moment for the Welsh international, who admits he remains as hungry as ever as one of the senior figures of the squad.
Turnbull added: “It’s definitely a proud moment and I’m enjoying every minute of it.
“I’ll keep taking these little mementos one-by-one, and keep ticking them off.
“But the main thing is that I’m enjoying my rugby with a young group of players and it’s what makes me want to come into work every day.
“You want these young boys to come in and gain experience, and if you’re young and good enough, then you’re old enough.
“They didn’t look out of place and hopefully seeing young boys coming through like that will keep the older boys on their toes and that can only make for a stronger squad.”