Corniel van Zyl was delighted to secure back-to-back derby victories with a thrilling 24-21 win over the Ospreys. 

The Cardiff head coach was frustrated not to take five points from the BKT United Rugby Championship showdown, however, if he was offered nine points from 10 two weeks ago, he would have jumped at it. 

The Blue & Blacks were cruising 24-7 in the final quarter but in a Déjà vu of last week the visitors battled back. 

Thankfully, on this occasion there was no comeback completed and Cardiff hung on for a crucial win in the race for the play-offs.

Van Zyl said: “It’s definitely better to win from a comeback than to lose from being in front.  Honestly, on 24-7, I looked at the time and it was 66 minutes. I said, is this possible? So I shouldn’t have said it!

“We were actually OK. I think we had decent pressure on them but we lost the ball a few times and then gave them the chances at the end.

“But if you look at the two derbies, we played two games and we got nine points from it. If you asked me before, I would have taken it definitely.”

There was a crowd of more than 12,000 for the eventful derby at an Arms Park bathed in sunshine.

Van Zyl was unsurprised it was a tight, cagey affair and despite a giant step to the play-offs taken,  he remains focused on one job at a time.

“It’s always close isn’t it. The derbies stay close and it was good for the crowd all the way to the end. 

“The game started with some fireworks for the run out and when the sun is out , it helps the whole atmosphere. It was brilliant today.

“Hopefully we will get a few players back now and it’s the same thing. The next game is the most important one. 

“Glasgow are a quality team but we will go there and give it a good shot. Reflecting on last season, it was almost like we were chasing from behind and trying to get in there, whereas we made it a point to just focus more on week to week, trying to get points where we can.”