Blues break their duck
PRO14 MATCH REPORT: Two tries from scrumhalf Tomos Williams gave Cardiff Blues their first win of the season as they surged past Munster 37-13.
After capitulating last time out against Zebre, the Blues showed their grit and dominated Munster in attack and defence, earning a bonus point for their endeavour.
Owen Lane thought he’d opened the scoring within the first few minutes, taking a lovely inside pop from Rey Lee-Lo to run in unopposed.
But just as Gareth Anscombe stood up to take the conversion, the referee disallowed the try after the TMO showed Willis Halaholo had blocked Joey Carbery from making the tackle on Lane and the score was chalked off.
Halaholo made up for his mistake immediately, taking a crash ball and making 20 metres through Munster’s 22, before Nick Williams followed up with a pick and go try under the posts – this time Anscombe slotted the extras too.
Munster replied well though, with Carbery stealing the ball after Jason Harries lost it in contact and the ball making its way out to Andrew Conway, who blasted free, chipped to the try line and dived over.
The Irish then went ahead, with Carbery – after making a stunning break to take the visitors from one end to the other – set up Conway for his second in the same corner.
But the hosts hit back, with Lee-Lo making a searing break after a quick turn of pace and a lovely step to set up Tomos Williams under the posts, with Anscombe again converting.
Carbery added more points to close the gap to a point before the break with a penalty, but it was the Blues who came out fighting in the second half.
After a spell of pressure in Munster’s 22, Cardiff was rewarded as Anscombe whipped a cut-back to Halaholo in the corner for the centre to dot down for his own score to increase the hosts’ lead.
Anscombe slotted the conversion from the touchline, before adding another three from the tee to put Cardiff 11 points ahead.
Blues were not only clinical in attack but showed great physicality in defence, shutting out Munster on the hour mark as prop Stephen Archer was caught holding on to the ball just metres from the line.
The hosts cleared their lines, broke Munster’s defensive line and earned themselves a scrum and a resultant penalty to consolidate their lead – a real turning point in the game – to increase the gap to two converted tries.
Again the flyhalf added another layer to the comfort blanket with a third penalty to put Cardiff 30-13 up with 10 minutes remaining, as the Munstermen cut frustrated figures.
The hosts’ tails were up in the final moments of the match with the knowledge of a first win and the Blues went searching for a bonus-point fourth try, eventually forcing their way through as Tomos Williams sniped from close range.
After surrendering their lead against Zebre last time out, the Blues proved they’ve learned their lessons as they got themselves ahead at Cardiff Arms Park and closed the game out effectively.
The scorers:
For Cardiff Blues:
Tries: N Williams, T Williams 2, Halaholo
Cons: Anscombe 4
Pens: Anscombe 3
For Munster:
Tries: Conway 2
Pen: Carbery
The teams:
Cardiff Blues: 15 Gareth Anscombe, 14 Blaine Scully, 13 Willis Halaholo, 12 Rey Lee-Lo, 11 Jason Harries, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Ellis Jenkins (captain), 6 Josh Navidi, 5 Josh Turnbull, 4 George Earle, 3 Dmitri Arhip, 2 Kristian Dacey, 1 Rhys Gill.
Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Macauley Cook, 20 Olly Robinson, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 Garyn Smith, 23 Matthew Morgan.
Munster: 15 JJ Hanrahan, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Jaco Taute, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Darren Sweetnam, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Duncan Williams, 8 Christiaan Stander, 7 Chris Cloete, 6 Peter O’Mahony (captain), 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Mike Sherry, 1 James Cronin.
Replacements: 16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Brian Scott, 19 Darren O’Shea, 20 Tommy O’Donnell, 21 Jack Stafford, 22 Bill Johnston, 23 Shane Daly.
Referee: Quinton Immelman (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Rhys Thomas, Gareth John (both Wales)
TMO: Ian Davies (Wales)
Source: @PRO14Official
