Yes, it's obviously a great start, getting wins against our Welsh rivals the Ospreys and the Dragons. It was a tight game against the Ospreys but I felt we deserved the win. We put in a good performance but it was a lot tighter than we hoped it would be. They were tough up front as they always are in derby matches, but it felt like the Blues pack came out on top. So as a pack we are certainly happy with how things havegone.

Was there a bit of edge in the Ospreys match with the certain players not warming to the Arms Park crowd, how did you deal with that?

I think there's a bit of history there over the last couple of years with certain individuals, but I think we settled the score by winning the game.

Obviously last season was a bit of a water-shed season with the injury, are you back to where you were before? Are there long term effects from that injury?

I don't have any problems with my ankle now and I finished off the season with how I wanted it to end. Coming back from injury was always going to hard. The psychological side was probably more difficult than the physical side. However that's been put to bed now and I'm just looking forward to pushing on with this season.

In what way is it harder to recover mentally from the injury?

People always assume the physical side is going to be the hardest stage of returning from injuries, but with all the rehab I did and all the work I did with the physios and the doctors it gives you a lot of confidence. What you do in rehab is probably more intense on the ankle than what you do in a game but my ankle could hold up to anything it came up against.

At the end of last season you toured Australia with Wales. You didn't get as much game time as people thought you deserved, was that frustrating for you?

Yes it was frustrating, but to be honest the way the season went last year I was happy with the way I managed to get back to playing and I was pleased with my performances. The aim when I was injured was to get playing at a standard I was at before I got injured and to be in contention for the Australian tour. I achieved the ambitions but obviously when you're on the tour you want to play but it wasn't to be. My sights this season are to nail down a first team place and be first choice with the Cardiff Blues and anything else is a bonus.

With Martyn Williams being away at the world cup, you and Rhys Shellard are pushing each other, you're certainly not going to make it easy for Martyn to step back in…

It's been my aim every time I've played for the Cardiff Blues to make it hard for Martyn to come back. Rhys has obviously had an unfortunate start to the season with a minor back problem but I'm just happy to be playing and I really want to put down a marker for when the boys do come back and the rest is up to the coaches.

With regards to Martyn, he's considered to be one of the best flankers around and many believe you are a natural successor to him. Is that the way you see it?

Like I said after the last season I had, I really want to come out of Martyn's shadow and I do want people to recognise me as being a player as opposed to being Martyn's understudy. I will do as much as I possibly can all season, but throughout the whole squad the strength in depth is fantastic this year, we've certainly made some good signings over the summer which will push the boys throughout to start competing for the jerseys. You need that in a squad if you want to win competitions.

Speaking of the competition, the new players seem to have added a new dimension. Competition for places, especially in the second row seems to be very strong?

We've certainly got incredible strength in depth there and probably throughout the pack. The boys that have come in have all added something fresh to the squad and also off the pitch as well. They're top boys and the atmosphere around training is buzzing.

Outside of rugby, the time you had because of the injury gave you a chance to explore other careers outside of the game. Are you pursuing the forensics further or was that just something you looked at as just one option?

It's something I've always been interested in and I enjoyed my experiences that I had when I was injured. Whether it's a route that I will follow in the future I don't really know to be honest.

Did the injury change your perspective of rugby?

It does because you don't realise at the time how lucky you are. When I first got injured, the first few days were genuine panic because I kept thinking 'what happens if that's it?' At the time I didn't have anything behind me, I suppose my outlook on life after rugby is probably better now than before I got injured. You have to prepare for life afterwards, it's something I'll really try and push over the next few years

Have you spoken to Chris (Czekaj) as he suffered a severe injury over the summer?

Yes, Czek's has obviously been extremely unlucky with his injury. We went to see him when he was in hospital but if I'm being truthful there's not much you can to say to someone when their injured. You have to deal with the problems yourself and Chris is a strong character. I'm sure he'll be back in the quickest time possible.

You've spoken about your own goals for the season, but what about the teams? We've started well with wins against the Ospreys and Dragons, how do you see the Heineken Cup and other competitions going?

It's obviously tough having two English sides in our pool but at the same time we've recruited well over the summer and I really think we've got the squad now to compete in Europe. We've got to test ourselves against the best and we had a good victory in the pre-season friendly against Gloucester. We've showed we can put big performances in against big English sides. If we can build on our first few wins of the season hopefully it'll stand us in good stead going into the European and EDF games

Have the squad been given targets from the coaching team with regards to places?

Yes we've spoken about what our targets are for the season, we want to get to at least the knock out stages of Europe, once you get to the knock out stages anything can happen. You take it game by game. We were narrowly pipped by the Ospreys in the Magners League and we don't want that to happen this season. We want consistency in the league and if we can be in the top 3 towards the end of the season we'll be really pushing for it!