Head Coach Matt Sherratt is relishing another Boxing Day Derby and is hoping for a sell out crowd to help spur on his side when they face nearest rivals Dragons RFC.
The Cardiff crowd has been in full voice this season, especially during the Blue and Blacks match against Bath in the Investec Champions Cup and Sherratt believes their support can carry his side to victory on Tuesday.
“It was a great crowd on Saturday against Bath and I don’t know how close it was to a sell out but it was certainly pretty close," said Sherratt.
“Even going into the bars before and after the game it was jam packed which is what it should be.
“It’s always busy on Boxing Day too. I usually judge it by the amount of texts I get and I’ve had quite a few request for tickets. I’ve been quite popular this week.
"It will be fantastic for the guys to play in front of another packed crowd, on a massive occasion and it's these type of games we live for as rugby players and coaches.
"If we continue playing an exciting brand of rugby, the supporters will carry on getting right behind us and hopefully they can carry us to a win over Dragons."
Cardiff were narrowly defeated by Bath in a thriller at Cardiff Arms Park. Despite the loss, Sherratt was pleased with the performance and his side's consistency this season which has seen all but one of their matches end within a single score.
“I was mainly pretty proud after the Bath performance. Obviously when we went back through the footage I would say three of their tries were quite preventable.
“Just little things really like Josh Adams was down injured, they kicked off and I don't know if it was by design but they've kicked to where he would be stood, ball has hit the floor and they've scored.
“But on the whole, it was everything we talked about this season. There was youth out there, there was fight out there and from the feedback and the reaction we got, it was a cracking game of rugby.
“I think all but one match, we've been within a score, so it was only the Toulouse game and I think probably the Harlequins versus Toulouse game put it into context.
“I think this is our 10th game this weekend, so out of the nine so far we've been right in it. Although the results don't look consistent, strangely the performances and the effort and the style of play have been pretty consistent."
The Blue and Blacks were visited this week by Welsh cycling legend Geraint Thomas and Sherratt could see similarities between how his side prepare for games and Thomas' own preparation, with both focusing more on themselves rather than the opposition.
“You tweak things week on week. I think we had Geraint Thomas in yesterday and he kindly came in and gave us 45 minutes of his time.
“It was brilliant to hear the lads question him because he thought there's probably not much crossover between cycling and rugby but he talked about in the teams on the Tour de France, how you kind of recognise other teams’ strengths and weaknesses, but you've really focused 90% on yourself and what you're doing and it's exactly the same in rugby .
“Obviously the Dragons will have certain strengths and weaknesses, so you tweak a little bit, but I think a 90-10 split on who you focus on is probably about right.
“We'll tweak little bits and pieces, but I think you've got to have a way of playing and back that really.
“You watch their games and they're always very, very competitive, very good back row, defensively brave will get over the ball, will disrupt your speed of ball.
“What I've been impressed with early on in the season, is they've got a bit more ball movement as well.
“I know speaking to Dai after our game against them away from home, we were probably expecting them to make more passes and play a little bit more than they did, but I think we'll see them try to maybe make a few more passes in this game.”