Young: 'We need to take-off'
The Cardiff Blues travel to Scotland on Saturday to take on Edinburgh in the Magners League knowing that they must get some points if they are to have a chance of finishing in a play-off spot this season.
Edinburgh have lost three of their last four games in the Magners League, but the Blues have lost all four away encounters in the Magners League this season and have not won at Murrayfield since recording a 20-0 win on March 28, 2008.
Ceri Sweeney starts at flyhalf having looked lively when he came on against the Dragons and the Ospreys during the festive period, whilst Leigh Halfpenny, who needs game time under his belt, gets a run out at Fullback.
Speaking ahead of the match Cardiff Blues Director of Rugby, David Young knows that his team need to improve their performances if they are to start climbing the league table.
“We haven’t really taken off this season and haven’t really put in an 80 minutes performance together,” said Young.
“I’m confident that when we can get some continuity in our selection and get somewhere near our best team out on the field we will start to play the way we can.
“At this moment we’ve got to start producing better performances and start picking up points.
“The season isn’t going 100% to plan but this is when players, coaches and everybody have got to earn their stripes and look at where things are going wrong and hopefully start putting things together.
“We’ve had a couple of glimpses of what we can do and a couple of false dawns so we will be looking for an improved performance against Edinburgh this Saturday.”
Edinburgh come into the match off the back of two disappointing derby defeats to Glasgow but, at home, will be looking to secure a vital win over the Blues.
Young prop Kyle Traynor starts on the bench alongside centre Nick De Luca for the home side, whilst John Houston partners Ben Cairns in the Gunners’ midfield.
The teams:
Edinburgh: 15 Chris Paterson (captain), 14 Jim Thompson, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 John Houston, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Rory Hutton, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Roddy Grant, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 Alan MacDonald, 5 Scott MacLeod, 4 Jim Hamilton, 3 David Young, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Craig Hamilton, 19 Scott Newlands, 20 Ross Samson, 21 Nick De Luca, 22 Mark Robertson.
Cardiff Blues: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Richard Mustoe, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Tom James, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Andries Pretorius, 5 Paul Tito (captain), 4 Deiniol Jones, 3 Taufa’au Filise, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 1 Sam Hobbs.
Replacements: 16 Rhys James, 17 Scott Andrews, 18 Bradley Davies, 19 Ben White, 20 Richie Rees, 21 Dai Flanagan, 22 Gareth Thomas.
Date: Saturday, January 9
Kick-off: 18:30
Venue: Murrayfield
Referee: John Lacey (IRFU)
Assistant Referees: Peter Allan (SRU), Graeme Marshall (SRU)
TMO: Jim Yuille (SRU)
