Liam Belcher believes Cardiff can take plenty of positives and learn some crucial lessons from their BKT United Rugby Championship loss to Leinster on Saturday night.
The Blue & Blacks faced a fully loaded Leinster, back at the newly redeveloped Laya Arena (formally the RDS) following opening wins over the Scarlets and Zebre Parma.
Leinster were fired up for their homecoming and the back-to-back reigning champions displayed their quality with a ruthless performance.
They took control of the encounter thanks to three tries in a devastating purple patch and never surrendered their lead.
Mason Grady kept Cardiff in touch but despite a much-improved second-half performance, and plenty of opportunities, they could not break the star-studded hosts down.
Reflecting on the 29-5 defeat, Belcher said: “The first 25 minutes was the biggest one. They scored three tries but after that we came into it and gave it a bit more.
“It’s tough to take but we had loads of opportunities, so the biggest one was a lot of skill errors. You go against the champs away from home and you’ve got to be clinical when you’re getting in their 22 and we weren’t. That’s the story of the game.
“The most pleasing thing for me was the fight that we showed. There was an easy opportunity there, 14 men down, they’ve scored three tries, momentum is with them, and it’s easy for them to get on top and keep going. But we probably turned around and we ended up scoring in that period.
“It’s back to the drawing board but there’s lots of good things to take out of that to move forward.”
Cardiff now turn attention to a return to the Investec Champions Cup and the reigning Gallagher PREM champions Northampton Saints.
They cruised to a 71-48 victory over Bath in an 18-try thriller on Saturday and Belcher is looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead.
He said: “That’s where this club wants to be and that’s where we wanted to be, we spoke about that a lot and it’s exciting. It’s a newer competition, we want to be playing in these big games and we’re looking forward to it.”