Head Coach Matt Sherratt believes his side has had an 'excellent' pre-season as they head into their opening URC match of the season against Benetton at Cardiff Arms Park next week (Saturday, 21st October).
The Blue and Blacks won their opening pre-season games against Scarlets before falling to a very narrow 28-26 loss away to the Ospreys on Friday night. Cardiff were able to rotate their squad during both matches, giving plenty of game time to their players and fielded a mix of youth and experience and welcome an old face back into the team.
"If we look at pre-season as a whole it has been excellent. In terms of the big picture, we got another 30 players on the pitch tonight, we got 31 on the pitch last week with 10 new starters," said Sherratt.
"We got Willis back on the pitch tonight, we got our experienced players some game time, which they need for Benetton and we learnt a huge amount, mostly positive about the young boys. All in all it’s been a positive pre-season.
"If we put everything into context, we have to walk the walk and develop young players and if we get disjointed in pre-season and we make lots of changes to expose young players then so be it. We have to make sure the likes of Alex Mann and Mackenzie Martin have been exposed because the club will reap the benefits in the future."