Macauley Cook insists Cardiff Blues must stay professional in order to get a result ahead of a tough trip to Treviso on Friday.
Wales’ Capital Region suffered their third defeat on the bounce in the Guinness PRO12 on Friday, as West Wales rivals, Scarlets, stormed to a 26-17 victory at BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park.
But Cook, who has featured in every game of the campaign so far, is adamant his side must move on from the disappointing result and concentrate on the big task ahead of them in Italy on Friday.
“We’ve just got to move on and put the Scarlets result to bed,” said Cook.
“Obviously it’s a massive game this week. We’ve lost three in the league now, and although we’ve come off the back of a good first two games of Europe before the Scarlets, I think its massive now go out to Treviso and be professional and get a result out there because we know how tough it is.”
But despite the loss to Scarlets, Cook doesn’t believe there’s a cause to panic, as long as they produce the form they showed early in the season.
“If you look at it as a whole we’re relatively happy with where we are, and have put in some big performance this season. We just need to be that little bit more consistent.
“We’re obviously disappointed with the derby and it was at home which is disappointing. But lots of positives, Europe was good for us, when we lost against the Ospreys last time we showed we can bounce back with two big wins in Europe.”
Cook is also aware of the danger Treviso pose, and it will be a big task for the Cardiff Blues forwards to create a platform for the backs to shine.
“They’ve got a great set piece, big forwards that carry hard and during the first half they’re going to come hard at us. We need to get our defensive systems right, which we have done on occasions this year.
“I’m sure the attitude is going to be there Friday night. The boys are really hungry in training.
“We’ve got players in our squad that can cause any team problems. We just need to give those players a platform to do that first. By getting the set piece and contact area right, after a while teams will tire and we will be able to get some joy and be a bit more clinical and finish our opportunities off.”