By David Parsons
Cardiff skipper Liam Belcher led his side to a memorable first win of the year in Durban last weekend and has now set his sights on delivering a huge ‘Thank You’ to the fans on Judgement Day.
A year ago, Cardiff pipped the Ospreys not only to the Welsh Shield, but also to the final place in the Investec Champions Cup with a superb 38-21 win that enabled them to finish as ‘top dogs’ in Wales in the BKT United Rugby Championship.
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The Ospreys have returned to the top this season and will come into the game on Saturday 1 June at Cardiff City Stadium not only with revenge in mind, but also with an outside chance of reaching the play-offs.
If they can pick up five points, and other results go their way, then they could creep into the top eight and qualify for the Investec Champions Cup once again. Given the 2025 final is at Principality Stadium it would be a huge prize.
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But Belcher will lead a Cardiff team into battle full of confidence after their 36-14 victory over the Sharks in their second game in South Africa. Now the skipper is promising a big show at the end of a long, hard season to pay tribute to the fans.
“They’ve backed us all season and I have no doubt they will do that again on Judgement Day. They have been patient given how bleak things looked at the start of the season,” said Belcher.
“They are very loyal and among the better fans in the league – very vocal and very positive. I take my hat off to them.
“At the Arms Park the fans are class, and when we get a big crowd behind us it adds 20% to our performance. I hope they turn up in big numbers to help us again against the Ospreys.
“We want to end on a high and give ourselves a good note on which to end this season before he take a short break and come back for pre-season training in July.”
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Belcher had been in bits after a last gasp try against Ulster in Belfast was ruled out and yet another game slipped through the fingers. There were tears of frustration and sadness post-match at the Kingspan on that occasion, but there were tears of joy at King’s Park last weekend.
“We said it was a game we simply had to win and that’s what we did. It was a great feeling, and everyone enjoyed it, especially Corey Domachowski, who had his top off and was singing a lot,” added Belcher.
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JUDGEMENT DAY 2024 – SATURDAY I JUNE
Scarlets v Dragons – 3.00pm
Cardiff Rugby v Ospreys – 5.30pm