Chris Czekaj is expecting a big battle when the first Welsh derby of the new Magners League season takes centre stage this weekend.
The Blues host the Dragons at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday night and Czekaj is expecting fireworks.
Both sides have won one and lost one of their opening two league games but the Blues did the double over the Dragons last term and took the spoils when the two teams met for Martyn Williams’ testimonial last month.
“Derby games are always a bit better and you get a few more nerves,” said Czekaj, who has impressed at full back so far this season.
“It’s a huge game that we want to win and then there’s also the competition for international honours.
“It’s unusual to play them in pre-season and to get them early in the year. We got the win last time and go in one up and they will want to change that when they come here.
“We both have our warm up games under our belts so it could be a completely different outcome this time round.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Blues forwards coach Justin Burnell, the man charged with ensuring the Cardiff pack win the battle upfront this weekend.
Burnell is under no illusions as to the physicality the Dragons will bring to the capital, especially as they have two recent recruits from the Blues in their forward eight in Scott Morgan and Robin Sowden-Taylor.
“It’s a big game, it’s a derby match, everyone wants to win the derby match and we will be up for it all guns blazing, which suits our style,” added Burnell.
“The Dragons have got spirit. Connacht is a difficult place to go and even with the success we had last season, we struggled and lost in Connacht, so we are not looking at the Dragons’ defeat out there as a performance indicator.
“Against Glasgow they showed innovation and proved that, when the chips are down, they had the fighting spirit. That’s something they had last year and they are looking to build on that. It should be an exciting game.
“Scott Morgan has made a big impression there. He has dominated the lineout for them and Robin, rightly so, is proving how good a player he is. From our end, Martyn Williams and Sam Warburton aren’t two bad players to have and it proves that when Robin was with us he wasn’t a bad player – he was just up against two of the best.
“There will always be some points to prove, Scott and Robin will be trying to show we shouldn’t have let them go and it adds some spice to the game.
“Morgan has made nice niche for himself in the Dragons in the set piece. He has dominated that for them and had some good praise for it, so obviously he will be someone we will be looking out for.
“Scott will be going up against Paul Tito or Bradley Davies and he will want to prove he is equal to or better than them. He is a good lineout leader and we have had to change our calls and systems.
“He always gave 120% with us and has good friends here as well as the coaches, but hopefully we will get the better of him.”
