Flanker Martyn Williams insists Cardiff have to become more streetwise if they are to end their awayday blues.
Harlequins v Cardiff, Saturday 3.30pm, live on Sky Sports 2
Flanker Martyn Williams insists Cardiff have to become more streetwise if they are to end their awayday blues.
Cardiff travel to the Stoop on Saturday to face Harlequins having won just two of their last 20 away Heineken Cup matches - at Italian minnows Rugby Calvisano and French underachievers Bourgoin.
They started their Heineken Cup campaign with an impressive 34-18 victory over Bristol, but man of the match Willams knows they have to start winnning on the road if they are to qualify for the knock-out stages for the first time.
Pinch
"It is all very well and good doing it at home but the top sides in Europe go away and pinch wins - whether it is ugly or not you just have to win," said Williams.
"We have got the confidence but it will be a huge challenge against Quins as they recruited well and have a strong squad.
"It is still early days but we have a win against a good English Premiership side and we have one foot on the ladder and we know we can play some good stuff.
"What we have done is the first part of the job with a bonus point win - before the game we would have taken just the win.
"Now if we go to Quins and sneak a win or something out of the game we will be happy after the first two rounds."
The Blues played an expansive high-risk game against Bristol but only managed to take control in the final quarter after Bristol prop Darren Crompton was sin-binned.
"We do need to tighten up our game," added Williams. "You cannot play that loosely in Europe or you will come unstuck - especially away from home - and we have to be a little bit more streetwise."
Williams, who insists there will be no going back on his decision to quit Test rugby, points to a stronger Blues squad as key to their Heineken Cup hopes.
"We have much greater strength in depth with people like Gethin Jenkins and Rhys Thomas coming off the bench, a luxury we haven't had before, so everyone has to stay on their toes and play at the top of their game to stay in the side.
"That is perhaps something we haven't had in the past and we are definitely going the right way."
Priceless
And Blues Director of Rugby Dai Young insists they will need to play better if they are to pick up that priceless away win.
"We certainly have a big game on Saturday and going away to the Stoop we will have to be better that we were against Bristol," he said.
"Quins have a very expansive team and play with the ball in hand while Dean Richards' influence has tightened things up at forward. They have a strong scrum and big driving line-out game as well as having the players behind to cause us problems. We will have to win the gain-line battle and that is the challenge for us in both attack and defence.
"We will also need to be more accurate, patient, clinical and composed - be prepared to go through the phases if we are to come away with something.
"Naturally we are happy with the bonus point win - we would have accepted that before the game - and we were playing all the entertaining and expansive rugby. However, we were trying to push the pass that wasn't on and we need to respect the ball a lot more.
"It has always been our aim to reach the quarter-finals and I think we can be very competitive - we want to give it our best shot."
