After failing to reach the Investec Champions Cup over the last two seasons, Cardiff Rugby head coach Corniel van Zyl is relishing the challenge of playing the best in Europe this year.

They find themselves in Pool 4 alongside Northampton Saints, Bath, Montpellier, Stade Français and the Vodacom Bulls.

He said: “It’s exciting times, obviously massive challenges, but that’s what we want to be as a club, to compete against the best.

“We worked hard last season and that’s obviously the reward of it - to play, to have the opportunity and obviously the special occasion.”

Cardiff’s campaign starts this weekend with a trip to Franklin’s Gardens to face reigning PREM champions, Northampton. With a star-studded squad packed with England internationals, the Saints are out to ignite a fresh European season with a convincing win at the DPD Stadium this Sunday.

The Saints commence their campaign following a huge 71-48 win against Bath in which they scored 11 tries. Commenting on the Saints, the Cardiff boss said: “They’ve got an attack mindset that sets the tone… That is definitely why they are so good.”

Much has been said about the PREM and its try-fests of late, but when asked about whether to focus on limiting the Saints attack, drawing them into an arm wrestle, or to focus on their own attacking game, the head coach emphasised that both were aspects of the game plan.

“We look at the overall game. It’s all about using the opportunities when we have the ball to apply pressure on them and then the flip side… so when we don’t have the ball, how can we get it back?

"How much pressure are we going to apply? How much can we slow down [the attack] to set the defence?

“It’s going to be a good challenge” he concluded.

They come off the back of a 29-5 away loss to reigning URC champions Leinster, now facing two reigning champions in the space of two weeks.

Despite the loss, van Zyl explained how last weekend’s fixture against Leinster would help the players’ preparation for the Saints: “It’s obviously a big occasion, you know the players get used to it… and then just learn from the occasion and it helps when its two weeks in a row.

“I’ll back us to be better from last week. Away from home everything is different, you’re out of your comfort zone but I’ll back us to learn from that and obviously be a little bit more clinical and accurate.”

Cardiff face Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday 18 October in their opening match of Pool 4.