The Wales wing doubled his PRO12 try-scoring tally on Saturday by crossing the whitewash twice in the Blues’ 29-5 triumph over Benetton Treviso. It has been a difficult season for the triumphant British & Irish Lion, who will hope to impress Wales coach Warren Gatland when he represents the Barbarians against England and Ireland later this month.
And John believes his confidence will have rocketed from his try-scoring exploits on the weekend.
He said: “Those tries were huge for him. Tries have been hard to come by for Cuthy this season and he has had to cope with the disappointment with Wales this season. To be fair to him, he has been very, very good in our environment and confidence is a big thing for anyone in sport. It doesn’t matter what you have achieved – confidence is key.
“He has to have confidence in what he has done before. He is a British & Irish Lion and a Grand Slam winner. He has got to revert back to that. We all have peaks and troughs; he is coming out the other side which is the right time.
“He now goes into the Barbarians over the next few weeks and then has the summer to carry on developing and pushing himself to get in that World Cup squad.”
Gethin Jenkins, Rhys Patchell and Garyn Smith added to Cuthbert’s double to see the Blues end a difficult season on a high. They finished the season in tenth, ahead of only the two Italian sides and seven points behind regional rivals Newport Gwent Dragons.
