With the two sides coming into the game on a high after local derby wins, the onus is now on backing up the victory heading into the second-half of the league campaign as the leading region in Wales.
The game itself, already likely to be energy sapping and spicey affair, bares also an added importance and reward of pushing the victors into the Championship’s top eight mix.
Whilst many sides within the league have bigger budgets, the significance of Welsh regional matches season-by-season is now carrying more and more importance with Booth feeling that it is a chance to play on an even playing field.
Standing in the Ospreys way on New Year’s Day will be an in-form Cardiff side buoyed from a statement 55-21 victory over their nearest and dearest in the Dragons on Tuesday afternoon.
The match itself will be played in Bridgend’s Brewery Field with a likely near sell-out crowd expected for the much-anticipated game.
Despite having to dig deep with the limited number of players available after a quick turnaround and a growing injury list, Booth feels the match is a good opportunity to build momentum in front of a large crowd and electric atmosphere.
“Winning derbies give you momentum and it is important for the fans. You can’t underestimate that. These are the people who contribute to our existence,” said Booth.
“They [Cardiff] are playing really well. If you look at their last few games, the Toulouse game performance-wise was good, as was the Bath game and obviously against the Dragons.
“They have a lot of confidence and are scoring a lot of tries and we are going to have to be very sharp, especially defensively because they pose that attacking threat.
“We know they don’t play a lot of rugby in their own half, so they are limiting their risk.
“As a result, we are going to have to be good in transition because they are going to kick the ball a lot. Making sure we maintain things on our terms is going to be important for us.
“I think players like playing in places that are full and I think that brings a nice atmosphere to it. We’re also playing on grass, which doesn’t happen as often as it used to.
“We’ve gone well in derbies in my time here. We’ve won the Welsh Shield which proves something.
“I think the first success for any Welsh region now is to get themselves into the play-offs.
“However, the backdrop of where we are coming from is making that more and more difficult because you’re a little bit in the lap of the injury gods.
“It’s an important milestone if you like [in the season] because we are playing with the same deck of cards from a financial resource point of view, so your expectation can be comparable.
“There’s not much difference and it is often who deals with the emotions and executes on the day; however, the big picture is who can make the next step and that is the challenge for us all.
“We all know what we are trying to get to. The unfortunate side of it is on occasions you have to limp your way through difficult periods.
“To get to the holy grail of the play-offs you need a little bit of luck and everyone to stay fit and healthy because you haven’t got that depth of resources that you used to have.
“From what I can see, though is the coaches and the players are making a good fist of it despite the difficulties they find themselves in. That shows that they care about playing for their regions and also playing for Wales.
“It’s a very big challenge but professional sport is about meeting that challenge and that is the exciting part.
“It’s certainly going to be part of our thinking [finishing in the top eight of the URC]. We knew that 13 weeks was going to be pretty challenging for everybody not just us because of the World Cup schedule and it certainly has been from an injury list point of view.
“I think all the Welsh regions have been exposed a little bit at different times. If we can sign off positively here, it will be a job decently done but there is still a long way to go.”
[Lead image: Ospreys Rugby]
