Cardiff Blues: Dai Young welcomes Arms Park return

Dai Young returned for his second spell in charge of Cardiff Blues following John Mulvihill's exit

Cardiff Blues director of rugby Dai Young believes returning to the Arms Park after a year will help their bid to qualify for the European Champions Cup.

Young will take charge of his first competitive game there in more than a decade.

"The place has changed, not a lot, but it's certainly great to be back," he said.

Blues lie fourth in Pro14 Conference B, 20 points behind visitors Munster.

Cardiff Arms Park was used for medical support facilities when the Dragon's Heart hospital was set up next door at the Principality Stadium earlier in the coronavirus pandemic, with the artificial playing surface having to be relaid afterwards.

Cardiff Blues played five 'home' games at Rodney Parade and two at Cardiff City Stadium during their exile.

Connacht, Scarlets, Cardiff Blues, and Edinburgh are battling for the positions between second and fifth in their Pro14 conference.

It is not yet clear whether three or four sides from each pool will go into Europe's top tier next season, while the incentive of Pro14 play-offs has been scrapped with only the pool winners disputing the title.

"We want to play a fast, high tempo, multi-phase type of game and the pitch is conducive to that.

"It's a fantastic surface, the first few training sessions here give you a thrill and I'm looking forward to my first competitive game (back) here," Young told BBC Sport Wales.

"But if we're going to be the team that we want to be, you're going to be playing on different surfaces and you need to adapt your game accordingly."

Josh Turnbull joined Cardiff Blues from Scarlets in 2014

Turnbull hits 150

Meanwhile utility forward Josh Turnbull celebrates reaching 150 appearances for the capital side after a mid-career move along the M4 from the Scarlets.

Turnbull, 32, names their European Challenge Cup triumph over Gloucester in Bilbao, a 50-point European victory over Pau, and the recent double over the Scarlets as among his favourites.

"I'm quite chuffed about it, I keep picking up these little milestones, I'm enjoying playing with a great bunch of boys. We've got some youngsters who make me feel a bit younger than I am, and I'm enjoying it as much as I've ever done," said the 10-cap back-rower or lock.

"It's been a little while since we've played on this pitch, it's just a shame there's no fans here and hopefully it's not too far in the future we can have our fans back, but we can't wait to get back out there."

Covid test mystery

While Young is not expecting national squad players Lloyd Williams and Rhys Carre to be released by Wales after featuring in Connacht, he should have young backs Ben Thomas and Mason Grady available again after "inconclusive" Covid tests prevented them from flying to Galway.

"It was a strange one, I was all packed ready to leave the house and get on the plane, but I had a phone call saying my test had come back inconclusive and there was no time to have a retest and travel to Ireland," explained Thomas.

"It is frustrating but after a cool-off period I have to realise that things like that are going to happen when there's a pandemic on, it's just about getting over the disappointment and getting ready to play the next game."

Neutral refs

Meanwhile Young is refusing to blame home country refereeing for the defeat in Connacht despite Welsh supporters querying some decisions by (Cardiff-born) Irish union referee Andrew Brace and his team.

"I don't think neutral officials have anything to do with one or two mistakes I believe were made, but it takes that suspicion away for people outside the camp.

"We didn't lose the game because of referee decisions, though they didn't help and the last two tries had me scratching my head, but I don't think it had anything to do with impartial referees," said Young.

"Sometimes when they are not impartial (neutral country), people try to put one and one together and come up with 50, it's cleaner if that wasn't the case."