John Mulvihill is prepared for another electric Cardiff Arms Park atmosphere as Cardiff Blues welcome Scarlets to the Welsh capital for a blockbuster derby to kick off the New Year.
Mulvihill’s side head into the encounter on the back of festive wins over Ospreys and Dragons, with a second consecutive sell-out expected at the Arms Park.
Last season’s final game at the Arms Park saw the Blues rack up a stunning 41-17 win over the west Wales region, scoring five tries in the process.
Mulvihill is excited to see another packed house in Cardiff and expects a fiery clash on the pitch.
“Last week against the Dragons was the first time that Cardiff Arms Park has been sold out in quite a while, and the atmosphere was absolutely electric here,” said the Australian.
“We’ve been allowed to release extra tickets once again and are on-track for another sell-out. It’s the first Friday of the New Year and it should be a great celebration of rugby here.
“We had some really good games here on Friday nights last season and we’re really looking forward to it.
“The fans of Cardiff will really look forward to getting down here, some after work if they’re back at it this time of year.
“We want to start the year with a good performance in front of a massive crowd.
“If we can continue to do well, we’ll continue to have those crowds here. There’s no better place than Cardiff Arms Park on a Friday night to come out and watch some rugby.
“It’s a slightly different team to the one we beat here last year. They’ve got a few new foreign players and a foreign coach that they’re excited about and play for.
“It will be a little bit different in comparison but I still think that if we apply enough pressure for longer periods of time then we can get a good outcome for ourselves.”
The head coach is expecting a thrilling affair as two attack-minded sides go head-to-head on the Cardiff Arms Park pitch.
Following four consecutive victories in the Guinness PRO14, Mulvihill believes the clash could give his side further momentum ahead of the final two rounds of European action.
He added: “We’ve refreshed a little bit because this will be the third game in 13 days. They come thick and fast this time of year, but you also got collisions that are higher in these derbies compared to the normal games.
“Every time we play against each other it becomes a fairly quick game. They will try to move the ball, but they also kick the ball the most in the PRO14 and try to strangle you down in one end and get you to over-play.
“We can’t get lulled into that, but if they kick poorly under pressure, we’ll hopefully have a bit of ball to carry back into them.
“It should be a good game. They’ll certainly come here to play. The pitch is quick and they have some really quick outside backs.
“They kick very smartly, particularly from set-piece and both nines will be going at each other to try to get the jersey for the international side.
“It’s going to be a quick game and hopefully the weather will be kind this week as well.
“We’re really looking forward to it. We’re excited and have had a really good week of training. I don’t think the club has gone three wins over Christmas at any stage, so we want to be the first group to achieve that. It would set us up nicely going into the New Year.
“It’s important that we focus on getting all the little things right. They have some lightning quick players and some real excitement in their group who play a pretty good brand of rugby.
“We need to be up for it physically and defensively for that, which we’ve done in recent weeks, but it’s about whether we can do it again this week. If we can do, then we can win.
“I told the group at the start of the year that last season we missed the play-offs by two games, and they were the two games that we lost to Ospreys that were in the same Conference.
“The significance hasn’t been lost on this game and the importance of it for us and the make-up of our season.
“To go five in a row, leading into Leicester in Europe, would certainly set-up our season in two different competitions.”
To secure your ticket click here or call 029 20 302030. The Cardiff Blues ticket office is open until 5pm today and from 9am on Thursday.