Cardiff survive late Scarlets fightback
The Cardiff Blues secured their first win of the new season on Saturday evening – holding on to beat the Scarlets 19-15 despite two tries from the visitors in the final ten minutes of the match.
Coming into the match with three defeats to their name, the Blues were desperate to record a win in front of their home fans.
Led manfully by their captain and try scorer Paul Tito, the Blues eased to a 13-3 lead at half time and just about had enough in the tank to go on an win the Welsh derby at the Cardiff City Stadium.
A tight start to the match saw the two sides exchange penalties in the opening ten minutes. Daniel Evans opened the scoring with his penalty for the Scarlets before, on ten minutes, Ben Blair leveled the scores.
The Scarlets were somewhat disrupted by injury in the opening thirty minutes, forced into a blood replacement for Dominic Day and the permanent substitution of Simon Easterby after just 30 minutes.
None of that though really made a difference when it came to the opening try. With just seven minutes left in the first half Tito dotted down and helped put the home side 10-3 in front.
Blair added another penalty just a minute before the break, giving Dai Young’s men a well deserved 13-3 lead after the first forty minutes of the game.
Evans missed an early shot at goal for the Scarlets before, Mr Reliable, Blair extended his sides lead to 13 points with his third penalty of the evening.
With a quarter of an hour left in the match Blair took his personal tally up to 14 points and seemed to make the match safe for the home side.
To their credit though the Scarlets refused to give up. First David Lyons and then Jonathan Davies, Mark Jones’ men scored two tries in three minutes to set up a dramatic final few minutes.
Much to the delight of the home fans, the Blues held on for the win but the Scarlets late flurry had at least ensured that they would leave the Cardiff City Stadium with a point.
The Scorers
For Cardiff
Tries: Tito
Pen: Blair 4
Cons: Blair
For Scarlets
Tries: Lyons, Davies
Pen: Evans
Cons: Evans
The Teams
Cardiff Blues: 15 Ben Blair, 14 Richard Mustoe, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Gareth Thomas, 10 Sam Norton-Knight, 9 Richie Rees, 8 Xavier Rush, 7 Robin Sowden-Taylor, 6 Maama Molitika, 5 Paul Tito (captain), 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Taufa’ao Filise, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 1 John Yapp
Replacements: 16 Darren Morris, 17 Gareth Williams, 18 Deiniol Jones, 19 Andy Powell, 20 Gareth Cooper, 21 Ceri Sweeney, 22 Gavin Evans
Scarlets: 15 Daniel Evans, 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Gareth Maule, 12 Jonathan Davies, 11 Mark Jones (captain), 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Martin Roberts, 8 David Lyons, 7 Richie Pugh, 6 Simon Easterby, 5 Dominic Day, 4 Lou Reed, 3 Deacon Manu, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Iestyn Thomas
Replacements: 16 Phil John, 17 Matthew Rees, 18 Vernon Cooper, 19 Josh Turnbull, 20 Tavis Knoyle, 21 Dan Newton, 22 Lee Williams
