Cardiff centre Tom Shanklin has urged his teammates to throw everything they have at Leicester in today's Heineken Cup semi-final at the Millennium Stadium. Shanklin, one of the form centres in the northern hemisphere this season, is part of a Blues side who have yet to taste defeat in 12 cup games this season.
But the London-born Welshman, who was part of the Cardiff line up who beat Gloucester 50-12 in the EDF Cup final two weekends ago, said that Leicester posed a different prospect. "We'll have to throw everything we've got in our locker at them," he said. "I'm not ashamed to admit they're a worrying prospect. People say reputations don't count for anything in big matches but the simple fact is Leicester are good at this sort of thing. They've proved it time and again in the big games even when they're not in top form."
The 2008-9 season has proved a massive turnaround for the Blues. Prior to the EDF final they had not won a trophy since Welsh rugby went to the regional format six years ago. Under coach Dai Young, Cardiff have become a star-studded squad. Shanklin is one of six British and Irish Lions selected from among their ranks for the summer tour to South Africa. In contrast, the Tigers have just one in Harry Ellis, who is not even a guaranteed starter for today's match.
And Shanklin added: "It's taken time but we've always believed in what we're doing. There's been stick over the years but we're hopefully shutting up some critics. "There's definitely been more lows than highs, but that's changing this season and I don't think we've experienced our ultimate high yet this season. "For me, that's winning the Heineken Cup and I see no reason why we can't do that. After the different ways in which we beat Toulouse [in their Heineken Cup quarter-final] and Gloucester, we feel we've got a gameplan we can adapt to beat any side, the Tigers included."
Cardiff have a virtually full- strength line up to chose from while the Tigers have welcomed a host of players back from injury. Bulky wing Alesana Tuilagi is out of the game after failing to get his four-week ban for foul play overturned at his appeal this week. But the Tigers coach Richard Cockerill has some key figures available for selection, among them former World Cup winners Ben Kay and Lewis Moody, and former All Black Aaron Mauger.
He described the build-up to the match as a "selection headache" but added: "I'd love to have this sort of dilemma every week. It's great to get such key figures back for such a big match. Cardiff are so physical and so precise that we can't miss a single tackle or let our gameplan buckle for a second or we'll be in trouble. "Everyone says we're underdogs but we never think of ourselves as underdogs, not in a single game." mmajendie@thenational.ae
