Cardiff Blues: Dai Young preparing to stay on at Arms Park

Dai Young was in charge of Cardiff Blues for nine season in his first spell in charge

Cardiff Blues director of rugby Dai Young says he is "well down the track" of talks to extend his second spell with the club.

Young replaced John Mulvihill in January on a short-term deal for the rest of the season.

"It was never just about coming until the end of the season although it could have ended up that way and that's all we committed to," said Young.

"We're well down the track in talking about progressing that."

Young added: "Hopefully in the next couple of weeks that can be agreed. We entered into this agreement in the spirit of 'if we like each other, then we would go down that path.'"

Blues have won three and lost two since Young's return and are currently fourth in Conference B of the Pro14, three points behind Scarlets and seven ahead of Edinburgh, who have two games in hand.

The former Wales prop has described Blues' final Pro14 match against Edinburgh on Monday as a "must-win" game.

The two clubs are behind Scarlets in a battle for one or two Champions Cup qualification places, with next season's format still uncertain.

It is not yet known how many teams will go through from each Pro14 conference to the Champions Cup, depending on whether six, seven or eight clubs from the league play in Europe's top tier.

"Realistically for Champions Cup qualification, we need to win. If we don't, it's probably not going to end in us qualifying and it may be the case that even if we win, we don't qualify," Young told BBC Sport Wales.

"Players, supporters, staff, we all want to be measuring ourselves against the best so it's important for us as we haven't been there for a couple of seasons, and it would be a great statement moving forward."

Cardiff have 10 players in the Wales squad against France, but could field players not in the Wales match-day 23 despite their lack of preparation time- with half-backs Jarrod Evans and Lloyd Williams as key figures.

Wing Owen Lane is doubtful with a hamstring injury and teenage centre Mason Grady is ruled out for a number of months with a knee injury suffered in Treviso.

Wing Jason Harries played his first game back in the win over Benetton after seven months out with two knee injuries, and is looking forward to facing Edinburgh after spending a season there.

"They've got a heavy pack, Richard Cockerill is big on the set-piece so they'll come down with a big set-piece and a big kicking game. We've got to match that and make sure we know our game.

"They do miss a lot of international boys but under Richard Cockerill they've started to build depth underneath. Their big focus will be (Fijian number eight) Bill Mata, he's a strong carrier and tackles hard, so they'll be looking to pick up their game off him."

Edinburgh have 12 players with the Scotland squad to face Italy, including eight forwards, while prop Pierre Schoeman has been ruled out for four to six weeks with a knee injury.