Edinburgh beaten by Blues
Edinburgh fell short to a second-half comeback as Cardiff Blues scored four straight tries to secure a bonus-point 34-15 victory at the Arms Park.
Edinburgh had an outside chance of claiming a top-three finish heading in to the Monday night clash, and were relying on Welsh rivals Scarlets slipping to defeat against second-placed Connacht
However, Edinburgh fell to defeat, while Scarlets overturned a 21-point half-time deficit to seal a 41-36 bonus-point win in Llanelli and secure third place in Conference B.
An out-of-sorts Blues should have trailed by more than 10-3 at the interval but four second-half tries from Liam Belcher, Rey Lee-Lo, James Ratti and Jarrod Evans was enough to secure the bonus-point win. Evans completed the scoring with two penalties and four conversions.
Edinburgh’s defeat extinguished their hopes – they still have two games remaining in Conference B – despite two tries from George Taylor. Charlie Savala added a penalty and a conversion for the visitors.
Match action
Edinburgh dominated the opening period with the home side unable to break out of their own half. The capital side’s powerful number eight Bill Mata tested the Blues’ defence with a number of surges but the visitors could not make their early superiority count.
Cardiff broke out of defence and should have taken the lead but a straightforward penalty from Evans rebounded back off a post.
A couple of elusive runs from Blues full-back Matthew Morgan enlivened proceedings but he then gave away a penalty for not releasing, which debutant Savala kicked.
Evans was successful with his second attempt before Edinburgh scored the first try of the game when Taylor cut a neat angle to breach the defence and score.
Savala converted before missing a simple penalty shortly afterwards but his side still held a deserved 10-3 half-time lead.
Bearing in mind the importance of the game, Blues were strangely lethargic in the first half but perhaps buoyed with news of Scarlets first-half capitulation – they trailed 33-12 to Connacht at the interval – the home side seemed rejuvenated after the restart.
Within four minutes, Evans had kicked a second penalty before Edinburgh lost tighthead prop Lee-Roy Atalifo to a leg injury.
After 51 minutes, Blues took the lead for the first time when Belcher finished off a succession of forward drives before the capital club suffered another injury setback when lock Andrew Davidson was carried off the pitch on a stretcher.
Four minutes later, Cardiff scored their second try. A superb run out of defence from Morgan brought the Blues 40m downfield with Aled Summerhill up in support to send Lee-Lo over to put the hosts 20-10 ahead.
Edinburgh looked in trouble but they rallied with a period of pressure, which ended with Taylor collecting his second score after a strong run from Damian Hoyland to cut the deficit to five points.
But Blues sealed victory when Evans raced on to a well-judged pass from Lloyd Williams to score before Ratti crashed over for the bonus-point try, with Evans converting both for a match tally of 19 points.
live commentary 8:00 PM Monday 22 Mar 2021
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Cardiff Blues
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Hallam Amos
23. Replacement16metres made
19MINUTES PLAYED
1TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
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Max Llewellyn
22. Replacement0metres made
0MINUTES PLAYED
0TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
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Lewis Jones
21. Replacement0metres made
0MINUTES PLAYED
0TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
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Alun Lawrence
20. Replacement0metres made
7MINUTES PLAYED
1TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
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James Ratti
19. Replacement3metres made
16MINUTES PLAYED
3TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
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Dillon Lewis
18. Replacement0metres made
19MINUTES PLAYED
5TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
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Rhys Carré
17. Replacement0metres made
19MINUTES PLAYED
5TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
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Kristian Dacey
16. Replacement21metres made
16MINUTES PLAYED
3TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
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Josh Turnbull
8. Number 88metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
21TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
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Ellis Jenkins
7. Back-row14metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
16TACKLES MADE
7COMPLETE PASSES
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Olly Robinson
6. Back-row0metres made
73MINUTES PLAYED
15TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
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Rory Thornton
5. Second-row3metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
16TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
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Seb Davies
4. Second-row13metres made
64MINUTES PLAYED
8TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
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Dimitri Arhip
3. Tighthead prop0metres made
61MINUTES PLAYED
13TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
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Liam Belcher
2. Hooker8metres made
64MINUTES PLAYED
9TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
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Rhys Gill
1. Loosehead prop3metres made
61MINUTES PLAYED
14TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
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Lloyd Williams
9. Scrum-half19metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
9TACKLES MADE
51COMPLETE PASSES
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Jarrod Evans
10. Stand-off18metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
7TACKLES MADE
26COMPLETE PASSES
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Aled Summerhill
11. Wing51metres made
61MINUTES PLAYED
0TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
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Ben Thomas
12. Inside-centre9metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
10TACKLES MADE
13COMPLETE PASSES
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Rey Lee-Lo
13. Outside-centre36metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
3TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
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Jason Harries
14. Wing28metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
6TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
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Matthew Morgan
15. Full-back99metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
1TACKLES MADE
4COMPLETE PASSES
Edinburgh
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Damien Hoyland
15. Full-back95metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
2TACKLES MADE
8COMPLETE PASSES
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Blair Kinghorn
14. Wing29metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
5TACKLES MADE
10COMPLETE PASSES
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James Johnstone
13. Outside-centre20metres made
61MINUTES PLAYED
4TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
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George Taylor
12. Inside-centre51metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
8TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
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Eroni Sau
11. Wing47metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
5TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
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Charlie Savala
10. Stand-off0metres made
57MINUTES PLAYED
6TACKLES MADE
18COMPLETE PASSES
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Charlie Shiel
9. Scrum-half0metres made
51MINUTES PLAYED
0TACKLES MADE
51COMPLETE PASSES
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Boan Venter
1. Loosehead prop13metres made
75MINUTES PLAYED
5TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
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Michael Willemse
2. Hooker22metres made
64MINUTES PLAYED
9TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
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Lee Roy Atalifo
3. Tighthead prop0metres made
48MINUTES PLAYED
5TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
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Magnus Bradbury
4. Second-row11metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
8TACKLES MADE
5COMPLETE PASSES
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Andrew Davidson
5. Second-row0metres made
54MINUTES PLAYED
11TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
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Mesulame Kunavula
6. Back-row54metres made
70MINUTES PLAYED
8TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
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Luke Crosbie
7. Back-row10metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
10TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
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Viliame Mata
8. Number 881metres made
74MINUTES PLAYED
12TACKLES MADE
4COMPLETE PASSES
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Sam Kitchen
16. Replacement9metres made
16MINUTES PLAYED
1TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
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Murray McCallum
17. Replacement1metres made
5MINUTES PLAYED
0TACKLES MADE
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Angus Williams
18. Replacement0metres made
32MINUTES PLAYED
4TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
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Jamie Hodgson
19. Replacement6metres made
26MINUTES PLAYED
3TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
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Ally Miller
20. Replacement0metres made
16MINUTES PLAYED
1TACKLES MADE
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Henry Pyrgos
21. Replacement0metres made
29MINUTES PLAYED
0TACKLES MADE
52COMPLETE PASSES
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Jack Blain
22. Replacement5metres made
23MINUTES PLAYED
2TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
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Mark Bennett
23. Replacement48metres made
19MINUTES PLAYED
0TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
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