Head Coach Danny Wilson has promised to go into Europe all guns blazing this season as he looks to build momentum to take into the festive period.
Cardiff Blues kick-off the competition this weekend in Italy as they face Rugby Calvisano at the Peroni Stadium (kick-off 3pm local time).
Wilson’s men can also look forward to European clashes with French giants Montpellier and English outfit Harlequins.
And Wilson has vowed to play strong teams to build towards the end of the 2015 and on the work of recent months.
“Montpellier, Harlequins and Calvisano – it’s a really tough group that you could class as a Champions Cup group,” he said. “Two of those sides have recently been in the top tier so it’s a big challenge for us.
“It’s another opportunity for us to build on some of the things we are doing; for us to try and get some big performances to take into the festive period and big Welsh derbies.
“It’s a different competition, but in terms of where we are as a group this is another series of games for us to build on what we are trying to achieve and our collective attitude.
“We are going through a series of huge changes and we have got to make sure we creating something to build on for years to come – Europe gives us another chance to do just that.
“We’ve got to learn our lessons from these games and those coming up before the big derbies.
“Europe is an opportunity for us and we have some tight turnarounds, with some Thursday night games that we won’t be used to and we need to respond to.”
Wilson has revealed USA duo Cam Dolan and Blaine Scully could come into contention after missing the Guinness PRO12 defeat to Glasgow Warriors last weekend.
“Cam Dolan may possibly come back into contention as will Blaine,” he said. “Jarrad Hoeata also came back against Glasgow off the bench so we will look to get him more game time.”