Ben Thomas admitted Cardiff were second best across the park as they slipped to a bonus-point defeat against the Ospreys in the New Year’s Day derby, but believes the loss could prove a timely wake-up call ahead of the second half of the season.

Cardiff went into the festive derbies knowing the importance of momentum, yet were unable to impose themselves at key moments, with the Ospreys taking control at the breakdown and in the contact area.

“It’s a bad day for us,” said Thomas. “I think they were better than us in every facet of the game. Breakdown, attack, defence — they were on top. So there’ll be an awful lot for us to look back on.” 

“Sometimes you need these games. You need a bit of a reality check.”

Despite securing a losing bonus point, Thomas felt the dominance the hosts enjoyed made it difficult for Cardiff to find any fluency or build sustained pressure.

“The feeling was that they were on top in every aspect of the game,” he added. “You give a team that much dominance at the contact area, it’s going to be tough to get your game going. We’ll have a look back and we’ll work out how to get better.”

The defeat marked Cardiff’s third derby in a demanding festive period, with Thomas acknowledging that one win from three falls short of expectations.

“We all love playing in derbies and being involved in this period of the year,” he said. “But in the derbies — one from three — is not good enough for us. We’ll look back hard at this and use it as a bit of a catalyst to get better for the second half.”

Coming at the end of a physically and emotionally intense period, Thomas sees the defeat as something the squad can learn from as they look to reset and refocus.

“It probably comes at a good time,” he explained. “After a loss like that you can get a bit emotional and start chasing the wrong things. It’ll be good for us to have a couple of days to reflect, come back on Monday and get ready to improve.”

Cardiff will now turn their attention to review and recovery, determined to use the lessons from the derby defeat as a platform for growth as the season enters its decisive phase.