Dai Young left Aironi satisfied after Cardiff Blues got their Magners League campaign back on track with a 20-3 win at Stadio Luigi Zaffanella.
The Blues boss had been bitterly disappointed after a shock 16-10 loss to the Scarlets last weekend but his side recovered with a convincing win in Northern Italy.
Young upped the ante in the build-up saying his charges would be fired up to face the Italians with a number of youngsters looking to make an impression.
And the Blues did not disappoint with a comfortable win as they made it two victories out of two in Italy this season.
Richard Mustoe and Lloyd Williams both crossed for tries in a dominant first-half performance but the Blues stuttered in an uneventful second half and missed out on a try-scoring bonus-point.
“It was a good win and we were in control right through 80 minutes. We struggled at times in the second half but you can’t have all the pressure,” said Young.
“The boys showed a lot of grit and determination to bounce back from a disappointing defeat last week. In fairness to them they knew we didn’t play well. On that day, the Scarlets showed more hunger and we never want to allow a team to win by wanting it more.
“They put that right against a full-strength Aironi side who were really targeting a win against us knowing we were without most of our internationals.
“But I thought the boys did well. Lloyd (Williams) was excellent and everyone showed how much it meant to them. It was great to see Owen Williams from the academy come on for his first game and Dan Fish played well at fullback.
“We put in a good performance and got the win. With a better second half and one or two better decisions we could have got the bonus-point.
“Perhaps if we had snuck a try 10 minutes into the second half we would have run away with it. But you can’t always score four tries and from my point of view a win is a good result.”
Ceri Sweeney had opened the scoring for the visitors after just three minutes with the first of his 10-points. But it was Mustoe who grabbed the first try after New Zealanders Mike Patterson and Casey Laulala linked up.
Ludovic Mercier hit back with Aironi’s first and last points shortly after the half hour mark but with five minutes until the interval Williams struck with the decisive blow. The young scrum half shook off a tackler from close range to snipe through. Sweeney converted to give Cardiff a 17-3 halftime lead.
Sweeney extended that lead further five minutes after the restart but they were to be the only points in a hard-fought but uneventful second period.
Next up for the Blues is the trip to Bath in the LV=Cup and Young added: “It’s straight into the LV=Cup next week , there aren’t any weeks off any more so there will be a lot more youngsters involved which I’m looking forward to.
“We still have plenty to work on. As a coach there are very few areas you are totally happy with. So we have work to do this week but for now I’m happy to get a good win and a great response to a disappointing loss last week.”
Aironi Rugby: J Laharrague, G Toniolatti, R Penney , G Pizarro (G Pavan, 62), D Demas, L Mercier (R Bocchino, 65), P Canavosio (T Tebaldi, 51), S Perugini (M Aguero, 63), F Ongaro (R Santamaria, 60), L Redolfini (A de Marchi, 55), M Bortolami (J Furno, 72), Q Geldenhuys, J Erasmus, N Williams, A Benatti (S Favaro ,60). N Williams
Pen – L Mercier
Cardiff Blues: D Fish, R Mustoe, C Laulala, D Hewitt, G Evans (O Williams, 49) , C Sweeney, L Williams, T Davies (S Hobbs, 65) , T.R Thomas, S Andrews (J Yapp, 40) , M Paterson, P Tito, M Molitika(A Pretorius, 65) , X Rush, M Williams.
Tries – R Mustoe, L Williams. Con – C Sweeny (2) Pen – C Sweeny (2)
Referee: Graham Knox (SRU)
Attendance: 2, 900
