Coach Dai Young says his 2009 vintage has a strength in depth that previous Cardiff Blues squads have lacked.
The Welsh region meet Leicester of the Guinness Premiership in the Heineken Cup semi-final at the Millennium Stadium next Sunday.
The Blues’ impressive results this season have been generated by a depth to their squad Young readily accepts they’ve lacked in the past, and recent events illustrate the point.
After swamping Gloucester, Young then made wholesale changes for a fiendishly-difficult Magners League away game against Ulster – and the Blues duly triumphed 11-9.
“There is competition for places, and that is what we want,” he added. “If you want to achieve things and win things, you’ve got to have that competition.
“With that competition, it pushes players on to perform better week on week to keep hold of the jersey.
“In years gone by, we haven’t had any impact off the bench. We’ve never had a bench, really, that could go on and take us to another level.
“It’s a 22-man game for us now, and the people that don’t get the start will know they will play a part. It is their job when they go on to kick it on.
“We rested most of the 15 last week on the back of two massive games against Toulouse and Gloucester – there were a lot of bumps and bruises.
“It is important the squad achieves things, and that is what I wanted to do against Ulster. We challenged the squad to stand up, and they did.”
