Edinburgh Rugby’s unbeaten run in the Heineken Cup came to an end at the Cardiff City Stadium tonight as they went down 25-8 to Cardiff Blues.
The Welshmen's win moves them above Edinburgh into the Pool's top spot, with Friday's return fixture at Murrayfield crucial to both clubs' chances of progression - with a home for Edinburgh almost certainly enough to recapture the top spot going into the last two games.
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The visitors had the bulk of possession and territory in a tense first half but it was the Blues who held a narrow lead at the interval, with Scotland stand-off, Dan Parks, notching six points to Greig Laidlaw’s three.
The second-half was a different story as Cardiff, with significantly more possession, punished Edinburgh for a series of infringements – Parks putting away a further 14 points on top of wing Alex Cuthbert’s opportunistic score, to a solitary Edinburgh try from Lee Jones.
Edinburgh Rugby head coach, Michael Bradley, said: “I’m disappointed with our performance tonight. We shut down Dan Parks in the first half but didn’t convert our territory into scores while Cardiff went in 6-3 up without doing very much.
“We made too many uncharacteristic errors tonight and lacked the composure that I expect we’ll have in more familiar surroundings. The difference between the sides wasn’t that big tonight and certainly isn’t insurmountable going into next Friday’s rematch at Murrayfield.”
The visitors, renowned of late for a flair-fuelled attacking game, played a good first half of territory and possession ensuring Cardiff had to scrap for every step.
However, while the boys in black and red had many a foray into the Blues red zone, the moves broke down with metres to go, allowing Cardiff to clear the lines – their contribution to the half encapsualated by the timing of Parks’ points at the extremities of the half, either side of Laidlaw’s penalty.
HALF TIME: 6-3
The second-half bore witness to a much more distinct Cardiff attack, which sought to make the most of their increased possession and, with just quarter of an hour gone, Parks had put through three penalty kicks through Edinburgh infringements (15-3).
The scoring gap meant that the visitors were destined to chase the game, and chase they did, when a glimmer of hope was offered by Jones, who crossed the whitewash at the nearside corner.
With pressure mounting in the Cardiff 22, Tim Visser sucked in enough men at the short side to take the contact and offload to Jones whose fine footwork in close quarters saw him past the last man and across the line.
Laidlaw was faced with a tough touchline conversion from the right hand side. The steely Borderer put it just wide of the far-side upright keeping the boys in black and red a converted score adrift (15-8).
It was from there that Cardiff continued to intensify the pressure at the breakdown, yielding another penalty, which Parks kicked (18-8).
Then, with Edinburgh pressing hard to close the gap in a quest for a losing bonus, an interception on a flat pass paved the way for a killer converted score (25-8).
The Cardiff win means they leapfrog Edinburgh Rugby to move three points clear at the top of Heineken Cup Pool 2 going into Friday's rematch at Murrayfield in round four of the Heineken Cup.
FINAL SCORE: 25-8
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Attendance: 6102
CARDIFF BLUES: 15 Leigh Halfpenny; 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Chris Czekaj; 10 Dan Parks, 9 Lloyd Williams; 1 Gethin Jenkins, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 3 Taufa'ao Filise, 4 Bradley Davies, 5 Paul Tito CAPTAIN, 6 Michael Paterson, 7 Sam Warburton, 8 Xavier Rush
Substitutes: 16 Ryan Tyrell, 17 John Yapp, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Maama Molitika, 20 Josh Navidi, 21 Richie Rees, 22 Ceri Sweeney, 23 Gavin Evans
EDINBURGH RUGBY: 15 Chris Paterson; 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 James King, 11 Tim Visser; 10 Harry Leonard, 9 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN; 1 Allan Jacobsen, 2 Ross Ford, 3 Geoff Cross, 4 Sean Cox, 5 Esteban Lozada, 6 David Denton, 7 Roddy Grant, 8 Stuart McInally
Substitutes: 16 Steve Lawrie (on for Ford), 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Jack Gilding (on for Cross), 19 Steven Turnbull (on for Lozada), 20 Ross Rennie (on for McInally), 21 Mike Blair (on for Leonard), 22 John Houston, 23 Tom Brown (on for Paterson)
