Sam Warburton picks his way through the scattered chairs inside the empty Cardiff Blues players’ lounge and finds a seat near the dartboard.
“You wouldn’t sit here normally,” he says. “You’d probably get a dart in your head.”
That would certainly be the one injury Warburton is yet to suffer for club our country, but for once the Wales captain has returned from the Six Nations in decent shape aside from the concussion he suffered against England.
Warburton has played in successive victories over Treviso, the Scarlets and the Dragons and find himself in the unfamiliar position of actually having something to play for during the remainder of the season.
The Blues – who face the Ospreys next week in the Judgement Day weekend at the Principality Stadium – are only a point off the top six in the Guinness Pro12 and could even make the play-offs among the leading four if other results were to go in their favour.
This is not a scenario commonly encountered by the region’s most high profile player who says the transformation is down to new head coach Danny Wilson and the resultant change in attitude among the squad.
Wilson took over last year. Even during Warburton’s seven years in the team, the list of Wilson’s predecessors is long and not particularly distinguished in terms of their success. Gareth Baber, Justin Burnell, Phil Davies, Paul John, Dale McIntosh and Mark Hammett all tried to build on the occasional successes of Dai Young, but all departed.
Warburton believes the Blues have been turned around by Wilson and revealed the “downward spiral” players were on under previous coaches.
“Every time I have re-sgned for the Blues it was with the hope that we would improve and get better as a club,” he says.
“Now, it’s nice to see big changes are happening here out on the pitch and in training as well. It is a much better place to be than it has been over the past few years.
“The attitude has changed among a lot of players. If morale started to drop when we were losing games, then you felt that we were in a downward spiral and there wasn’t much to play for at the end of the season.
“Now, it’s different. We have something to play for. The qualification system for Europe has made the Pro12 a lot more interesting than it used to be.
“I think the league is also a lot more entertaining than it used to be and we have played our part in that. It gives you a reason to get out of bed in the morning and try and achieve something with your region.”
Warburton, still only 27, says Wilson set an incredibly modest target when he took over – for the Blues to be slightly less awful than last season.
There was no bold talk of trophies, European Champions Cup qualification, or even a top eight finish in the Pro12. It was just to get better and to refine a faster-paced style of play more suited to their artificial playing surface.
“When Danny came in we were the worst of the four regions. We set small goals such as not being the worst region this year.
“The year after we want to be the second best region and the year after that we want to be the best.
“Hopefully, if results go our way we might be able to actually leapfrog those goals and do better than we anticipated.
“If we managed to be the third best region, then we would have improved. If we can sneak in and be the second best, then we would have over-achieved which would be great.”
The Blues’ resurgence has brought them plaudits and some have already claimed they are now the strongest team in Wales. But that’s a status Warburton is cautious of claiming at present – even if they reverse six years of dominance and beat the Ospreys next Saturday.
“I think the league does tell a true story, so you have to give credit to the Scarlets. We can’t forget how well they started the season and how well they played.
“They have played games recently where they have been missing players. Liam Williams has only just come back and they have missed Scott Williams.
“So, the league table does show who has done the best. There is not much between ourselves and the Ospreys, which is why we are pretty close together.
“But our form has certainly been different in the second half of the season. We have definitely played much better in the second half of this campaign. But, overall, I think all the regions are pretty similar.
“When we play each other, it is always competitive and there is no banker to win. I think we can all beat each other which makes it exciting.”
The Blues have not beaten the Ospreys since 2010 – 12 meetings that have all gone in favour of the Swansea region.
Warburton admits: “I have played in quite a few of those. I remember playing in some really poor performances at the Liberty Stadium. One of them, we lost 28-0.
“I remember one in 2010 when we played at the Cardiff City Stadium and it was maybe our first season there. I think it was the last time we beat them.
“But I have been on the wrong end of the result way too many times against the Ospreys over the years.
“Things are changing, though, I think. People would not have even considered the Blues as a contender for the strongest region a while back. Now, we have to back that up.”