Danny Wilson has paid tribute to his coaching team for helping mastermind Cardiff Blues’ march to the European Challenge Cup semi-finals.
The Blues head coach – who is leaving at the end of the season – plotted the 20-6 victory over Edinburgh at Murrayfield that has set up a home semi-final against French club Pau on the weekend of April 20-22.
But Wilson has praised the contributions of backs coach Matt Sherratt, assistant Richard Hodges, and defence consultant Shaun Edwards for putting their team one step from the final of Europe’s second tier tournament.
Wilson said: “I want to give big credit to Matt Sherratt, because a lot of what was seen and executed was down to him in terms of kicking opportunities behind their blitz, and also to the players for executing that.
“Respect to Edinburgh, because down the middle of the park, in-between the 15s, their defence is extremely difficult to break down and we had to try to do something slightly different and it worked.
“I’ve also got to give big credit to the players, defensively, and also to Shaun Edwards and Richard Hodges, because I thought our defence was outstanding.
“We wanted to bring that big contact area presence, and on the whole we got huge change out of it, as we did with the line-speed and big collisions, which caused Edinburgh problems.
“We all know how well Edinburgh have been playing, winning six on the bounce coming into this game. They were at home so there was always going to be patches in the game where we would be under immense pressure.”
Tries from Blaine Scully and Ellis Jenkins were enough to see the Blues through to face Pau, who knocked out holders Stade Francais.
The Blues beat Pau home and away in the pool stages of the competition last season, but the French club have recruited heavily since then, including the likes of New Zealander Benson Stanley and France prop Thomas Domingo who were added to a squad that already boasted All Blacks Conrad Smith and Colin Slade as well as former Australia captain Ben Mowen.
“Watching the game, it shows another French team with huge powerful carriers, some real quality players that are going to cause anybody problems,” added Wilson.
“There’s some real firepower there but we’re at home, we’re on a good roll and… we can have a good crack at that game at the Arms Park.”
Before the semi-final encounter, the Blues face a two-week trip to South Africa, with crucial PRO14 fixtures against Toyota Cheetahs and Southern Kings on the agenda.
But Wilson’s side are now on an eight-game winning streak in European and domestic competitions.
“We’re at home, we’re on a roll and hopefully, if we can get out of South Africa without too many injuries, we can have a good crack at that game against Pau.
“Ultimately we’ve dug in, stuck to our task and come away with another win. That’s eight wins on the bounce in Europe and the PRO14, and we’ve won 10 out of the last 12 games.
“From a form point-of-view we’re in a decent place and hopefully we can roll that into South Africa. We’re winning games of rugby and that breeds confidence and hopefully we can keep that going.
“It was great to see the Scarlets win at home on Friday night, an it was a fantastic performance and result for them and Welsh rugby. For us to come away from home and do the same is great.
“We’re both in the semi final of European competitions and it’s fantastic for Welsh rugby. Let’s hope both of us can kick on to the final and have a good day out in Bilbao, but we’ve both got pretty tough games ahead of us.”
