Josh McNally hopes the Arms Park crowd was proud of Cardiff Rugby’s fight as they battled to an important win over Benetton Rugby.
The second-row scored the crucial try and picked up the BKT Player of the Game award, as the Blue & Blacks moved back to fourth in the United Rugby Championship table.
And while it was perhaps a game for the purist, McNally was pleased to edge to victory in front of another impressive crowd at the Arms Park.
He said: “We were pulling our hair out with our last ten minutes but I think it’s a victory we really needed.
“We wanted to come here in front of our fans and perform. The weather came in, we had to win it gritty, take the threes when they’re on offer and I’m just really proud of the lads to get that across the line.”
The boots of Callum Sheedy and Ioan Lloyd were also crucial with Cardiff kicking four penalties. In previous games the Blue & Blacks have more often kicked to the corner but in difficult conditions, they knew the importance of keeping the scoreboard ticking.
He continued: “We’ve been talking about it a little bit all year as leaders. There’s opportunities that we could have taken points.
“We want to be brave, we want to go for the corner and get points and tries, but I think the way we’re getting entries now into the 22, we’ve got to take points when they’re on offer. So a game like today, when the weather comes in, we’ll take three all day.
“It’s more about putting performances down for our fans, for our family. making this place a bit of a fortress, making it hard to come here and play against us.
“We’ll take wins when they come, we’ll look at the table when the weekend’s over, but we’re just happy to put a decent performance out of this today in front of our fans.”