Jarrod Evans has tipped his hat to the forwards’ effort in Saturday’s dramatic URC win over Leinster.
With the clock in the red, outside half Evans kept his cool to slot a long range penalty, securing Cardiff’s first victory over the Dubliners since 2011.
The playmaker, who also hailed the influence of half back partner Lloyd Williams, was delighted to experience the electric Arms Park atmosphere once again, which reminded him of the road to Challenge Cup success in 2018.
“You try to re-focus yourself. You’ve done it all week and over months and months,” said the Welsh international
“I was pretty fortunate to get the opportunity, because our forwards were outstanding and that was dedicated to them.
“What Leinster try to do is play quick and physical, and you can have all the technical and tactical around it all you want. But if you don’t match that, as we’ve seen previously, the scoreboard can turn quickly against you.
“We still have work to do around the breakdown. Despite some joy there we still need better decisions. But generally we were really good and our collisions probably won us that game.
“I’ve seen it happen with previous Cardiff teams, and games like that are momentum changing.
“Hopefully we can build and build. It’s well-documented that we haven’t had the smoothest of seasons for various reasons.
“We haven’t had any flow, and even with last week haven’t been able to get back-to-back games.
“For the boys to come out with a performance like that against a Leinster team who play week-in, week-out, is unreal.
“We bounced back well and had spoken about not letting errors double up.
“That was the difference. When something went wrong we didn’t dwell on it and back it up with a negative. We moved on with a positive and that’s a step in the direction for us as a group.
“The atmosphere was surreal, and probably a similar feeling to the run we had in the Challenge Cup in 2018.
“They brought energy and atmosphere and for the first game back with a crowd, what a way to cap that off.
“Just a point on Lloyd Williams as well, I thought he was outstanding. To have someone like that inside me, helping the boys and communicating with the forwards, and his kicking game was outstanding.
“It was never going to be a game where we would play and get rhythm. We were always going to have to match them physically and there was a certain way to beat them. We carried out that game-plan well.”
Earlier in the week, Evans was not included in the Wales squad for this year’s Guinness Six Nations campaign.
However, his focus remains on steering Cardiff and building further momentum in the blue and black jersey.
The academy product added: “My focus now is with Cardiff, and that’s all I can say about it. We have a week off now and then we face Zebre.
“It’s important that we get back on the horse and all we can do is play well for our clubs.
“Hopefully that will turn heads, that’s the only way you can approach it.
“You can’t get too down and sap, you’ve got to get on with it. Everything happens for a reason.
“There are a few boys that were unlucky within our squad but that’s my opinion which means nothing, really.
“Dai and the coaches here have been brilliant with me. I’m happy to string games together and put my best foot forward for this club.”