Josh Turnbull insists the Cardiff squad are determined to sign off the season on a high, as the race for the BKT United Rugby Championship play-offs draws to a close.
Dai Young’s men travel to Connacht on Saturday for the penultimate match of the regular season, before a Judgement Day showdown with Ospreys at Principality Stadium next week.
While the likes of Max Llewellyn, Jarrod Evans and Dillon Lewis are confirmed to be departing the Arms Park this summer, Turnbull says the group are motivated to make it a memorable end to the campaign.
“A couple of weeks ago, when everything started happening off the field, there were a few boys who were down and the mood wasn’t great to be honest.
“But over the last couple of weeks I couldn’t be more complimentary of the boys and the way they’ve handled things and really come back at it.
“We put ourselves in a good position in that game against Sale and won that on the back-end of Peter’s passing, which was a really sad time for everyone at the club.
“We have big motivation now because there are a lot of players moving on and the squad will look completely different next year.
“Ultimately we want to give those boys the best send off they can have, and if that’s reaching a play-off game and going as far as we can in the league competition, then so be it.”
Looking ahead to the trip to Connacht, Turnbull admits it’s virtually knockout rugby in the race for the play-off and Welsh Shield: “What Tomos Williams said in our huddle after yesterday’s training session is that this is knockout rugby now,” revealed the captain.
“If you lose on the weekend and against the Ospreys the week after, then it’s game over. Every game is a knockout game and that’s why we’re taking each game as it comes.
“Connacht haven’t lost in five games at home, so they’re in form at the moment. They’ve got a quality squad as well.
“They don’t lose many players to international rugby but what they gain from that is that every trains together and they have consistency. It’ll be a tough ask but we’re in a strong position, we’ve been playing well and hopefully we can go there full of beans.”