Cardiff Arms Park was sold out for the Blues’ win over their east Wales rivals Dragons, the home side coming out on top thanks to a Shane Lewis-Hughes try and the boot of Jarrod Evans.
But in the end it was the kicking of former Dragon Jason Tovey which sent John Mulvihill’s side home happy. The Blues have now won both of their Christmas clashes to date.
After downing the Ospreys in Swansea for the first time since 2005 and then seeing off the Dragons, the Blues will be looking to make it a hat-trick in a home clash with the Scarlets.
That game on January 3 is sure to be a thriller with the men from Llanelli looking for revenge after suffering two defeats to the Blues in the Guinness PRO14 last season.
“It was nice to be back out there especially in a derby and I was blowing a bit,” said Wales and Cardiff Blues back-row Josh Navidi, who made his first appearance of the season against Dragons.
“We were just a little bit disappointed with the way we played. In the first half we controlled the game quite well and defended well.
“But in the second half we tried to play too much around the halfway line and that cost us with one of their scores.
“It was good to see the game out, but we have a number of things to work on to be ready for the Scarlets.
“When we had penalty advantage, we kicked the ball quite early and didn’t keep the foot on the throat.”
Navidi hopes to keep his team’s momentum going against the Scarlets.
“We didn’t have the best start to the year, but we’ll keep pushing it and take it week-by-week and hopefully we can continue to climb up that ladder,” he said.
“The boys have been playing well and playing some good rugby over the last few weeks.
“It’s an enjoyable time of the season. It’s obviously over Christmas so things change a little for us, except for last year where we had a bit of a break.
“You know a lot of the boys that you’re coming up against and I really enjoy this period of the season.”
A day after the Blues and Scarlets do battle, the Ospreys and Dragons will meet at Rodney Parade.
The men from the Liberty Stadium are looking to bounce back from a 44-0 defeat by the Scarlets last time out and record what would be their second win of the season.
With vital PRO14 points at stage at a crucial stage of the season both games will be huge encounters.
“It’s going to be nice to go back and play at Rodney Parade. It’s 15 v 15 and we have to get things in order,” said Dragons scrum-half Rhodri Williams looking forward to Ospreys.
“We’d like to get another result against Ospreys, especially at home, but we don’t want to pile too much pressure on ourselves all on one game.
“We’ll come in Monday, analyse, put the work in on the field and hopefully get things right for Saturday.
“We’ve put ourselves in a good place in Europe, especially with those back to back Worcester games and the first two rounds.
“We are in a good place in Europe too so we’ll take Ospreys as it comes and then switch our focus back to Europe and get some good results in those.”
