Bourgoin 5 Cardiff Blues 13: Young aware tough times lie ahead despite rare win in France

Cardiff's first win in France for 10 years was acknowledged, not celebrated, by their coach. Dai Young has seen too many false dawns at this club to get excited at a scrappy win over modest opponents.

Young trades in reality, and that Cardiff took so long to put away desperately limited opposition was obvious to any discerning eye. So the coach's caution was sensible. "It was a great defensive effort for they chucked everything at us in the second half," he said. "We showed huge commitment and we have a lot of bruised and battered bodies. Bourgoin are very physical and we handled it pretty well."

But it was a far from perfect showing. Cardiff squandered too many clear scoring chances. "In attack, we were sloppy," Young said, but then Cardiff, for all their reputation and proud history, have been some-way short of a top side in recent years.

With Munster and Leicester in their Heineken group, sterner tests lie ahead, so Young's dose of realism was essential. Leicester visit Cardiff next Sunday and are bound to provide a level of opposition the Welsh club do not encounter every week. Young mentioned the recent win over Wasps in the EDF Energy Cup, but the Heineken Cup is different, as Leicester will demonstrate.

Therefore, Cardiff must prepare assiduously, working on their technical discipline and sharpening up their finishing behind the scrum. Four major breaches of the Bourgoin defence produced no tries. Statistics of that nature in Europe tend to be injurious to a team's hopes of progress.

As for Bourgoin, both town and rugby club seem a relic from France's past. The team's only real tactic is driving through the forwards, smashing off the fringes. That was fine back in the 1950s and Jacques Fouroux reinvented it with success in the 1970s but the game has moved on since.

Bourgoin: Try Monzeglio. Cardiff Blues: Try M Williams; Con Blair; Pens Blair 2

Bourgoin: F Denos (M Nicolas, 75); D Janin, G Bousses, I Giorgadze, S Finau; B Boyet (S Laloo, 68), M Prendergast; D Khinchagishvili, B Cabello (R Vigneaux, 40), O Sourgens (P Peyron, 40), J Pierre (B Williams, 72), D Fevre, A Petrilli (J Frier, 61), B Monzeglio, J Bonnaire.

Cardiff Blues: B Blair (N MacLeod, 69); C Czekaj, T Shanklin, M Stcherbina, M Luveitasau; N Robinson, M Phillips; G Jenkins, R Thomas, G Powell (T Filise, 59), D Jones, R Sidoli, S Morgan, M Williams. M Lewis.

Referee: C White (England).