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Young pleased with win over Bath but targets areas to improve ahead of URC campaign

10th September 2021


Dai Young was left pleased with his side's win over a good Bath outfit, but is still targeting areas to improve ahead of the new competitive season.

Tries from James Ratti, Lloyd Williams and Owen Lane were enough for the Blue and Blacks to secure the win in front of a lively Cardiff Arms Park crowd.

And while there were plenty of positives on show for the home side, Young still believes there are ways to improve with only two weeks until the start of the URC campaign.

“There’s a lot of things to improve on but at the end of the day you want to win the game,” said the director of rugby.

“That’s really pleasing to beat a good unit and we can’t scoff at that.

“We’ve had plenty out of both games and no major injuries, which is obviously important in pre-season.

“There were positive aspects and things that we need to improve on, and the line-out was shaky in the first half. So that’s an area we have to work on. 

“When we got our noses in front, we became pretty loose which was disappointing.

“When you go seven points up you then need to go 14 points up and so forth. But we started to be a little bit casual and loose.

“We showed we could play but to be fair to Bath, we have to be realistic because they made a lot of changes at half time, putting a lot of younger players on.

“But in the first half we were pretty dominant and probably should’ve scored more points.

“We had two or three line-outs five meters out and came home with nothing. We know in league games, when you get those opportunities you have to take them.

“We scrummed really well in both halves and we were on top, which is really pleasing.

“As I’ve said, the line-out wasn’t our strongest part tonight but they have a strong line-out drive which we stopped tonight so that was a positive. 

“Physicality-wise, we were good on both sides of the ball, we carried strongly and won a lot of collisions.”

Making his home debut against his former side was outside half Rhys Priestland. The playmaker impressed in both attack and defence, and contributed to the cause with some crucial kicks from the tee and out of hand.

Former Wales prop Young was pleased with Priestland’s first outing in front of the Arms Park crowd and is excited about is options in the number 10 jersey.

“I thought he was really good and was great with ball in hand,” added Young.

“Some of the kicks to touch are game-changers, and kicking from outside our 22 to their 22 is fantastic for the forwards.

“He had a great all round game, and players coming off the field were talking him up and talking about his organisation out there.

“He tackled strongly as well so I thought it was a great first game for him.

“We’ve got other people to put in there as well. Jarrod Evans, for me, is up there with the best 10s not only in Welsh rugby but in world rugby with ball in hand.

“Ben Thomas is another who we haven’t seen featuring in pre-season but hopefully he won’t be too long back.”