Coach Richard Hodges has called on Cardiff Blues Premiership Select (CBPS) to finish the British & Irish Cup campaign on a high with three successive wins to give themselves a chance of qualifying for the knockout stages.
The CBPS suffered a 22-10 defeat to Cornish Pirates at BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park on Sunday despite dominating possession and territory for long periods of the pool clash.
The result leaves CBPS in third place in Pool 4, after late heartbreak against Nottingham Rugby and London Welsh in previous games.
However, Hodges is remaining positive about the rest of the campaign, starting with a trip to Cornwall this weekend.
“We have spoken about the re-match in the huddle after the game and it’s a short turnaround before we go to Cornwall,” he said.
“We need to look at some revenge, but if we get that amount of ball again and can work on our attacking shape then I think we have a good chance.
“Three wins could still leave us in the mix, but first and foremost we have got to regroup and go down to Cornwall and come away with a win.
“To the boys credit they got themselves a huge amount of possession and spent seven or eight minutes in the opposition 22 in that game,” he added.
“But a lack of composure and forced offloads and really cost us. We’ve come away with nothing from a game we should have won.”
The medical team will now monitor the fitness of Owen Lane and Aled Summerhill after they were forced off early in the Round 3 encounter.
“Losing some of the attacking threats we had, in Aled Summerhill and Owen Lane, after 20 minutes decreased our options,” admitted Hodges.
“We were forced into changes in the game and that hasn’t helped in terms of getting our systems in place and our shape.
“We needed more authority and we couldn’t get our attacking game going considering the amount of possession we had. But to the credit of Cornish Pirates, they defended extremely well and we didn’t stretch them enough.
“There were some positives, though, and I thought people like James Sheekey and Miles Normandale really put their hand up today and put a good shift in.”