Jarrod Evans believes the iconic Arms Park can be Cardiff Blues' secret weapon during the upcoming campaign.
Wales’ Capital Region claimed 12 wins out of 15 first team fixtures at the Arms Park last season, picking up seven bonus points.
Evans believes the Blues’ home ground is an intimidation venue for visiting sides, and emphasised on the importance of kicking off the new campaign in positive fashion.
“The boys really enjoy playing at the Arms Park,” said Evans.
“I don’t think a lot of teams would like to visit the Arms Park, so we’ll look to take advantage of that into our home games.
“There would be no better way to start than with a win down at the Arms Park, where we had a strong run of games towards the end of last season.
“Last season, we didn’t help ourselves with the start we had, and it ended up having an effect on our final league position.
“We could send a message on Friday, and the biggest thing I found last year was the power of momentum.
“We now have a big focus on trying to get as many wins as we can in this first period and then taking that to build some momentum.”
Evans enjoyed a breakthrough campaign at his home region in 2017/18, and was nominated for the Guinness PRO14’s Honda Young Player of the Year, which was eventually won by Leinster and Ireland star, Jordan Larmour.
While Larmour won’t feature for the Dublin-based province, Evans will be starting in the number 10 jersey for the curtain-raiser, and he is motivated by the task ahead.
The outside half said: “They are the reigning champions in both competitions, and they are the benchmark in Europe.
“Everyone would like to get to where they are, they’ve got quality throughout, and it will take some time, but that’s what we have to aim for.
“We’ll take each game as it comes. My full focus this week is on Leinster, and how we can beat them, and next week I’ll look at the next game and so on.
“We’ve looked at Leinster and looked at areas we could exploit that they could be vulnerable, and I’m sure they’ve done the same to us. I’m just really looking forward to Friday night.”