Dai Young says Cardiff’s United Rugby Championship hopes are in their own hands, as they prepare for another long-awaited return to action with a trip to Belfast on Friday.
The Blue and Blacks currently sit in eleventh place in the URC table, but a number of disruptions - from Covid to adverse weather - means they have played the least amount of league games, with up to five games in-hand in some instances.
The director of rugby believes his side can relish the challenge on their hands as they hope to build momentum in what has been a stop-start campaign to date.
The former Welsh international said: “The league table isn’t pretty reading when you look at it, because I think we’re in eleventh place.
“But when you start scraping through the ceiling, you see that we’ve played the least amount of games.
“But the message to the players is that it’s in our hands. We’ve got the ability to go out to play and perform and if we pick up points along the way there’s no reason why we can’t climb the table rapidly.
“It’s been a frustrating season, it’s been very difficult for us to get any momentum and we’re going into this game again on the back of having a number of weeks off, which doesn’t help you.
“But after this game we’ve got something like 13 games on the bounce, so that will build plenty of momentum.
“It’s in our hands, but it’s easier said than done. Sometimes it’s better to have the points on the board rather than chasing them.
“But it’s up to us. We win games and pick up points then we’ll climb the table. We know it’s over to us. It’s not out of our hands and that’s as much as you’d want for.”
Cardiff face three consecutive away games, with a South African double-header following the trip to Belfast’s Kingspan Stadium.
Looking ahead to facing second-placed Ulster, Young insists that his side can thrive off the Kingspan Stadium atmosphere.
“It’s a massive challenge, but it’s a great place to play rugby, and that’s the first thing,” explained the director of rugby.
“It’s a cauldron of rugby and the supporters there are fantastic. For me, it’s a venue you want to play at.
“People talk about daunting places to play, and yes it’s a tough place to go but it’s a fantastic atmosphere, whether it’s with you or against you. So yes it is somewhere you want to go to play.
“Talking to players here, we haven’t done that well anywhere away from here for a number of years.
“We keep talking about this being a big game for us, having not won there for a number of years, but I think I’ve said that about nearly every away game.
“Hopefully a part of our upward trend is going to places and getting results.
“But Ulster’s form this season has shown how tough it’s going to be for us.”