Cardiff Blues used to be numbered among the Heineken Cup's also-rans, travelling badly and not putting up much more of a show at home. In 2006 they were thrashed 48-3 at Leeds and it took them eight attempts before they won in Europe on the road, and that was in Calvisano.
The Blues are this season's popular dark horses at least to make the final having stealthily accumulated a squad that has real depth. A few years ago, losing a player such as the Wales and Lions centre Jamie Roberts, who is recovering from a wrist operation, would have seriously weakened them but now they have another Lion, Tom Shanklin, to step in.
"The big difference for us now is that the squad has got better," the Blues director of rugby, David Young, says. "That has allowed us to compete at home and away. There is fierce competition for places and it is no longer a headache for me if one of my senior players is unavailable. I have not forgotten going into previous campaigns keeping my fingers tightly crossed that we did not suffer any injuries."
The Blues won two of their first 14 Heineken Cup matches on the road after the start of the regional system in 2003. They have prevailed in five of the last eight and won the Amlin Challenge Cup last season after following up victories at Newcastle and Wasps by defeating Toulon in Marseille.
"A key game for us was against Stade Français in Paris three years ago," Young says. "We lost in the last minute and it gave us the belief that we could win important games whether in Cardiff or away. Even last season, having made the semi-finals in 2009 and losing to Leicester in a penalty shoot-out, we were written off before the start of the Heineken Cup. That gave us an attitude, a bit of mongrel and a killer edge. We are being spoken of now in more favourable terms but we need to show the same hunger."
The Blues start their campaign at home to Edinburgh today but do not regard the game as a home banker having won two of their last seven matches against them. "We always have tough games against them in the Magners League and there is no way we will be taking them lightly," says Shanklin, who moved to the Welsh capital from Saracens in 2003. "It is our first pool match and we want to start with a bang.
"This is the best squad we have had since I have been at the Blues. It makes you crazy thinking about where we used to train but now we have probably the best facilities around. It has taken a while but now we have cover in every position and you need that if you are to do well in Europe."
Young's opposite number at the Ospreys, Sean Holley, has not been slow in the past to goad the Blues. At the start of the season, he questioned why they had never won the Magners League but he believes his rivals are the ones to watch in the Heineken Cup. "I think they will win their pool," Holley says. "They have a strong squad and are well-coached."
Young accepts that winning the Challenge Cup has heightened expectation. "I am proud of that achievement, but it should not be forgotten that we were only in that tournament because we failed to qualify for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals. We are in a tough group and the other sides will fancy they can go through. I think we are a better side than the one which went out in the semi-final two years ago, but only time will tell on that. The players have matured and know they have the ability to get a result anywhere."
Northampton and Castres make up the foursome with the Blues travelling to France next week to face a side that has a 70% success record at home in the Heineken Cup. "It is a difficult pool," says Shanklin. "The way Northampton have come on in the last couple of years has been brilliant. My contract here is up at the end of the season and I would dearly like to be offered a new one because we are a side that has come such a long way and it is an exciting place to be."
