CROSS Keys head coach Greg Woods says his side are gearing up for a “massive week” which sees them facing three tough away fixtures.

The Pandy Park outfit play Cardiff on Friday night in the Principality Premiership before heading to league champions Pontypridd next Tuesday, ending their marathon with a trip to Dublin on Saturday, December 7.

That last game is for their British and Irish Cup group game showdown with Leinster A at Donnybrook, both sides unbeaten in the tournament so far this season.

And Keys warmed up nicely for their tough assignments with a convincing 27-10 bonus point triumph over Neath at home on the weekend – their fifth successive victory in all competitions.

Woods confessed he was worried at the prospect of facing the Welsh All Blacks, fearing a backlash after their winless start to the season.

“That was a dangerous fixture and I’m glad we comfortably won,” he said. We’ve got to be mindful that we have to play them away in the Swalec Cup at the beginning of January. They are always competitive around the breakdown but I felt we blew them away to a certain degree.

“I felt that our mauling game was superb and I feel the Hodge brothers (locks Ollie and Dan) do a great job for us there and they give us real go-forward.

“I think we had a driving lineout in the first five minutes where we went about 40 metres and we looked really strong up front, I thought our scrum was good. We were just dominant really.

“I thought Dorian Jones controlled the game well at outside-half and we just played a simple game in the conditions, putting it into the corner and squeezing the life out of them.”

Woods is calling on his side to be more clinical and to follow the example of wing Nathan Trowbridge who scored a spectacular solo try on Saturday

“We have to be really good in our execution and Nathan is one of those boys who does finish for us,” he said.

“He is a player who can convert pressure into points and that’s what we need to do more.”

Looking ahead to taking on the Blue and Blacks this week and beyond, Wood said: “It’s a massive one away in Cardiff on Friday on that (new artificial) pitch. We’ve got three big games in the space of a week – Cardiff away, Pontypridd away and then Leinster A so we’ve got to do some squad management on that.

“It’s three big games and we’ve got a bit of a centre crisis, but to be honest the way James Cordy-Redden played against Neath, I thought he was excellent, both he and Leon Andrews.”