Van Zyl keen to succeed Sherratt at Cardiff

Corniel van Zyl wants to step up to be Cardiff's next boss after Matt Sherratt left to join the Wales management team.

Head coach Sherratt was confirmed as Steve Tandy's attack coach on a full-time basis on Monday, just six days before the Blue and Blacks start the United Rugby Championship (URC) season.

Forwards coach Van Zyl will take the reins for the opener against Lions at Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday (19:45 BST) along with fellow assistants Gethin Jenkins, Jonny Goodridge and Scott Andrews.

The South African, who started his coaching career with Cheetahs and had spells with London Irish and Ealing Trailfinders in England, has put his hat in the ring for the top job.

"Every player in their career tries to go to the next level, it's the same in coaching," he said.

"You try and do something new. I have been doing what I am doing [as forwards coach] for a few years now, so it's time to do something else. It's a massive honour to be asked [to step up]."

The loss of Sherratt means that Van Zyl, defence coach Jenkins, skills coach Goodridge and scrum coach Andrews will have a bigger workload.

Cardiff have begun a review process while assessing the steps "to implement a longer-term plan".

"It happened quickly, so at the moment we are just preparing for the Lions and then the week after for the second game," said Van Zyl, whose side travel to Munster in round two.

"That's all that's on the table now and we will find a way to make it work best for the club.

"We have a good, experienced coaching set-up and there was a cake that was cut in five pieces, now it's the same cake cut in four. We will take more responsibility in certain aspects of the game."

Cardiff face a key first block of the campaign that pits them against Lions, Connacht and Edinburgh in the Welsh capital with trips to Munster and Dragons.

Van Zyl is confident that the departure of Sherratt will not derail their bid to improve on last season, when they were pipped to the play-offs by Scarlets.

"The players have been really positive, they just move on and project all of their energy forward," said the 46-year-old, who led pre-season training while Sherratt and Jenkins were with Wales in Japan.

"You look up to someone who is leading you and the next moment he is not there, so somebody else needs to step up and take the responsibility.

"We just move on and it's business as usual. There is no time in the game to look back and ask why, it's just about projecting all our energy forward.

"We all believe in the same vision that we had with Matt, so it will just continue and we will drive standards.

"We all learnt a lot from Matt and those experiences can help take us forward."