Young says facing Toulouse is hardly a reward for their Heineken Cup efforts

Cardiff Blues boss Dai Young is confident his side and the Ospreys can beat Toulouse and Munster respectively to reach the Heineken Cup semi-finals.

Young said: "We are going into it [playing Toulouse] with a lot of confidence, a lot of belief. We've performed really well."

He added: "I'll be the first to say I fancy they [Ospreys] can go there [Munster] and win."

Young also hailed having four Magners League teams in the knock-out stages.

He said: "It's probably hardly a reward, is it [playing Toulouse]? But obviously we know how good Toulouse can be and they seem to do it year on year, basically.

"They fail to impress at the pool stages, just do enough to get through, but everyone knows, I feel, once they get to the knock-out stages that they can really pull games out of the bag and they can obviously be more of a match than anybody.

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"But we are pleased just to be there, really... we are certainly not fazed by playing against Toulouse or anybody else, but obviously we are very respectful of what a side they are as well.

"It will be interesting to see, for the independent observer, how far we have come.

"People have said how much we've improved this year. I'm quite confident we've improved considerably this season, but… we played Toulouse last year at the same stages and came second best by a large margin.

"Hopefully, playing here in Wales will make a bit of difference and hopefully, as well, which I'm quite confident is the case, we've improved considerably and we can reverse that result."

The likelihood is that the Blues will decide on Tuesday to play the French side at the Millennium Stadium.

Young will make his views known to the Blues management, who will make the decision, but said: "I'm certainly not fazed and I don't see that we're losing any advantage by it.

"Nobody's closer to the players than me and we love playing at the Arms Park. But in saying that, the players get just as excited about playing next door in the Millennium Stadium.

"We certainly feel that we performed really well there and it certainly wouldn't be perceived by the players as giving any advantage away."

Backing the Ospreys to win in Limerick, Young said: "From a Welsh point of view it's tremendous news that we have got two Welsh teams qualifying for the quarter-finals.

People that don't play in it [the Magners League] seem to spend a lot of time knocking it Dai Young

"Personally I never had any doubt in the Ospreys qualifying. You've only got to look at the quality they've got in their squad, excellent coaches off the field as well.

"They are also a very tough group so they've done well to qualify. It's a very difficult game for them to go against Munster, [but] I fancy them.

"Not many other people outside Wales will probably back them.

"Probably a lot of people are thinking that's more with my heart than my head, but the quality they've got in that team, the confidence they've got in there - I think they can go there and get that result as well."

Magners League teams Munster and Leinster join the Blues in a quarter-final line-up that includes French representatives Toulouse and three English teams, Harlequins, Leicester and Bath.

Young said: "That's a testament, really, to how much the Magners League has come on as well because people that don't play in it seem to spend a lot of time knocking it.

"But... the results have begun to speak volumes about how much the Magners League has improved."

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