CARDIFF BLUES V TOULOUSE, TODAY, ARMS PARK, 5.30PM

IT’S been a horrible week at Cardiff Blues....well, certainly for the tight forwards anyway. The scrummaging woes the team endured in the derby defeats to the Scarlets and the Ospreys demanded remedial action, especially with a juggernaut Toulouse pack coming to town this weekend.

That remedy was to take the form of a brutal session in training up at their Vale Resort base on Wednesday.

“The last two weeks, maybe all three derbies, we haven’t scrummaged as well as we have before,” admitted coach Danny Wilson.

“We have fallen off a little bit. Part of that is down to our process. We have looked and reviewed that in a lot of detail.

“We had a pretty horrible scrum session on Wednesday, I must say.

“It was horrible in a good way, as in tough.

“There were a lot of scrums live, a lot on the machine. There was just a lot of focus in that area.

“Over Christmas, with short turnarounds, we probably weren’t able too spend as much time on scrum work as we normally would.

“But this week we certainly have and bolstered that area a little bit.”

Young tight-head prop Dillon Lewis confirms the midweek session was pretty full on, as the Blues readied themselves for today’s crucial European Challenge Cup clash with Toulouse at the Arms Park (5.30pm).

“We had our schedule sent through and normally it just says ‘unit’, which means we’ll do lineouts, with scrummaging mixed in,” he revealed.

“But this time it just said, in red, ‘scrums’! So we knew we were in for a day of it really. “But it was good. We got a lot from it. “We did both live scrums and on the scrummaging machine. It was about half an hour, just very intense.

“It was a tough old day, but there was a very positive outcome I’d like to think.

“We’ll see how that filters into the Toulouse game now.

“You think of French teams, you think set-piece, don’t you? Their forwards are normally twice as big as you.

“So we have prepared for a heavy time.”

The Blues have also responded to the impending challenge by selecting a vastly experienced front row trio in the shape of Gethin Jenkins, Matthew Rees and Taufaʻao Filise, who have a combined age of 114.

Wales’ most-capped player Jenkins makes just his third start of a season plagued by knee, calf and concussion issues, while hooker Rees and tighthead Filise have both shaken off niggles to return.

The all-new front row features in a side that shows eight changes from the 29-28 defeat to the Ospreys last weekend.

Flanker Ellis Jenkins makes his first start of the season having recovered from hamstring surgery, while big George Earle comes into the second row to provide further scrummaging ballast.

Behind, Jarrod Evans is over the illness that forced his late withdrawal at the Liberty Stadium and forms a new half-back partnership with Tomos Williams, while the versatile Gareth Anscombe starts at full-back, which was the original plan for the Ospreys game.

With centre Rey Lee-Lo the latest to be struck down ill, Garyn Smith steps in to partner Willis Halaholo in midfield.

Coach Wilson said: “It’s good to have a number of players coming back from short-term injury to give us some strength and depth, and selection dilemmas in certain positions.

“Unfortunately, Matthew Morgan has picked up an injury that requires further assessment and with Rey LeeLo suffering a little bit of illness we felt Garyn Smith deserved to start, especially given his recent form.

“We’ve picked a team with a bit of strength and experience in the frontfive, but with plenty of attacking talent to play the rugby required to beat a team like Toulouse.”

The Blues are currently four points clear in Pool Two and if they win today they will be virtually guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals.

“We’re top of our group, it’s a home game against Toulouse and it’s one of those big ones which people come out to watch,” said Wilson.

“A home game in Europe, at this stage, against the giants of Toulouse is a massive game, full stop.

“But to play it in the circumstances we’re in, having beaten them away from home, which is one of our biggest wins in my time here, is exciting.

“We have to back it up by beating them at home. We know their squad is phenomenal and they’ve got some