And McIntosh claims the hooker's recovery has given the rest of the Blues squad a boost ahead of the RaboDirect PRO12 run-in.
"A lot of talk before the game was about Matthew and the inspiration we take from him," McIntosh told Wales Online.
"He's a born leader and the journey he has gone through and what he has overcome has been unbelievable.
"He played the ultimate game and he won and we talked about understanding how to win and that's what we tried to achieve.
"When we did go 5-0 down it was about regrouping and rethinking and understanding we are down in the dumps here, but Smiler is in the trenches with us, he is up there watching, it's not a problem, let's go back at them and that's exactly what we did.
"Although he has done a lot in the game, he is quite a humble guy and I know for a fact he didn't want me to speak about his situation.
"At no stage did I ever compare what he has gone through to a game of rugby.
"It was all about how inspirational he is as a person and as our captain and what it takes to win."
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