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Warburton welcomes derby challenges

Warburton welcomes derby challenges

Sam Warburton has welcomed the challenge of the upcoming Christmas fixtures as Cardiff Blues prepare for a run of three games in quick succession.

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Phil Davies’ side take on the Scarlets at Cardiff Arms Park on Friday night before the visit of the Dragons on Boxing Day and a trip to Munster early in the New Year.

And while the run of games would provide a real test for any side, Warburton believes these are the matches every regional player wants to be involved in.

“The Welsh derbies are always physical,” said the Welsh skipper.

“They are probably the league fixtures you look forward to the most out of the whole season. There’s going to be a good crowd for both games and you come up against some friends as well.”

The Blues may have suffered back to back defeats to Montpellier in the Heineken Cup but have gone down fighting in both games. Warburton pinpointed defensive mistakes as the reason for defeat last weekend but believes the tough European fixtures have been perfect preparation for the upcoming Welsh derbies.

“We can’t qualify for the Heineken now so we’re going to throw everything at the league,” he added.

“At the start of the season we aimed for a top four finish and we’re still aiming for that so two wins over Christmas would be a good start.

“To play against a pack like we did last week prepares you well for the league. That was the biggest pack I’ve come up against in my career and I think even though we haven’t won over the last two weeks, our performances have been getting better.”

The Blues now face a Scarlets side who have struggled in Europe but have been impressive in the PRO12 so far this season.

“The Scarlets pack has a lot of quality in there. They’ve got a lot of young Welsh players and some new recruits as well so we have to have the complete game really,” Warburton added .

“It’s going to be a real tough fixture as will the Dragons so it’s going to be a tough ask to get two wins but it’s something we need to target.

“Hopefully there’ll be a packed house in and from a players point of view these are the games you want to be involved in and if we can get 10 or 11,000 in that would be great.

“We just want to get our league campaign going again. That’s the biggest incentive, getting points on the board.

“We’ve put a lot of hard work in this year and we want to get the results now.”

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