Danny Wilson has paid tribute to his senior players and man-of-the-match Rey Lee-Lo after Cardiff Blues fought back to topple Edinburgh.
Wales’ Capital Region trailed 17-7 at half-time but dominated the second period and scored tries through Cam Dolan and Garyn Smith to add to Lee-Lo’s first-half effort.
The victory sees the Blues leapfrog Edinburgh and the Ospreys to finish the Guinness PRO12 season in seventh.
Wilson said: “Rey was outstanding, especially in attack. He always seems to use his footwork to beat the first man and then has the ability to get in behind people.
“I was really pleased with his performance and that of others.
“A lot of credit has to go to our senior players for digging in and guiding us around the pitch especially in the second-half.
“At half-time there was a collective discussion from our leaders and myself and other coaches that we just weren’t at the races.
“We weren’t where we have been in the past, we were 40-odd per cent gain-line success versus their 70 plus, so we were losing the collisions and you can’t play rugby like that.
“We came out in the second-half and were like a different team, we had real collision in us and dominated in terms of territory, possession and scoreboard. We showed what we are capable of.”
There has been a marked improvement under Wilson this season and the Blues have more than doubled their win count in the league from the previous campaign.
Following a testing start, in which six consecutive matches on the road were lost, they turned the tide and won 10 of their last 14 to finish as Wales’ second highest region.
It is undoubtedly something to build upon and Wilson is proud of his charges.
He added: “It’s probably the story of our season, nine times out of 10 we finish games strongly and we have a lot of fight in this group but we have to start games better.
“We finish seventh in the league, we’ve won 11 games in the league and I’m proud of this group of players and what they’ve achieved.
“We’ve won 10 of our last 14 league matches, the second-half of the season has been outstanding and a lot of that is because we had home games and we have a good record at home and are tough.
“But most pleasing today is we have won away and we did that against the Scarlets and the Dragons recently.
“We need to pick that up next season but it’s a start and hopefully with a good pre-season we can kick on.”