John Mulvihill urges accuracy from Cardiff Blues
Coach John Mulvihill insists Cardiff Blues must be more clinical and accurate, following Sunday’s defeat to Glasgow Warriors in the Champions Cup.
Despite Aled Summerhill’s second half brace, the Scottish outfit sealed an impressive bonus-point victory in the Welsh capital, and leapfrogged Cardiff Blues into second place in Pool Three.
The head coach praised Dave Rennie’s side, but also acknowledged his side’s effort at the Cardiff Arms Park.
“Glasgow are a really good rugby team, who have played good rugby all year,” said Mulvihill.
“The first five minutes, where they scored 12 points, we just didn’t cope with that. We had great preparation during the week, and our training on Friday was brilliant. The captain’s run yesterday was the best we’ve had so far this season.
“But we needed to carry that into the first few minutes of the game. After that it was a good contest.
“We had 10 line breaks and scored once, and they had six line breaks and scored four times. They were clinical when they got into the backfield.
“We created a lot of opportunities, but didn’t finish them off. Even towards the end of the game, when there were a few passes that went out of the tackle and into the opposition players’ hands.
“They’re a really good team. They move the ball really well, they slowed the ball down, they slowed the game down in patches and controlled that tempo.
“Our effort was good but the performance didn’t reflect that. This is a fantastic competition for us to be in, but we probably let ourselves down a little bit today.
“The effort was there, but the finesse and finish wasn’t. That something we need to make sure, when we play against teams like that, that we have to go on and score points.”
Reflecting on the first block of European fixtures, the Australian says it’s important to switch their focus to the upcoming PRO14 games against Conference A rivals, Cheetahs and Zebre.
Mulvihill said: “It’s an awesome competition and probably the next level up from the PRO14. The speed of the game and the collision is huge. It’s something we need to get through.
“But I told the boys, let’s park the Champions Cup for the moment and really focus on Cheetahs and Zebre over the next two weeks.
“Hopefully the internationals will go well for our boys and we get boys coming back fit.
“It goes to show that you need to have depth in your squad if you’re in these big competitions. That is something we’ll build on again next season.”