The Blues started the game well working their way up to the Leinster twenty two with a good pass by John Yapp to Jason Spice releasing the backs. Nicky Robinson sliced through the defence but was tackled just short of the try line. A powerful run from the base of the scrum by Xavier Rush from the base of scrum promised to deliver the try but the ball was knocked on and Leinster cleared.
It was the Irishmen who got the first score when they were awarded a penalty for a high tackle and outside half Jonathan Sexton converted. However, the Blues nearly touched down for a try in the corner when Ben Blair sprinted down the wing and passed to Tom James who just placed his foot in touch before the try line.
Scrappy defence resulted in Leinster positioning themselves in the Blues twenty two. Pressure from the Dublin based side resulted in the ball being spread out to winger Luke Fitzgerald who touched down in the corner. Robinson soon got a penalty back for the Blues from 45 yards out to bring the score to 3-8.
A fantastic break by Blair saw the Blues break into the Leisnter half, Sowden-Taylor was on his shoulder but was tackled just short, but Nick Robinson was on hand to pass the ball out to Mark Lewis to crash over in the corner. However Leinster soon retook the lead with a Sexton penalty.
It was a bad tempered and scrappy match but the Blues looked to be attacking more by the end of first half. A beautiful Nick Robinson cross field kick nearly resulted in Jamie Roberts touching down in the corner, but the touch judge ruled that he had knocked the ball forward trying to ground it.
HALF TIME CARDIFF BLUES 8 LEINSTER 11
A catalogue of errors early in second half meant the Blues were putting pressure on themselves. Eventually Leinster kicked the ball cross field and a missed timed tackle resulted in Luke Fitzgerald running unopposed to touch down. Sexton added the conversion and the Blues were making basic mistakes that were costing them heavily.
Nicky Robinson converted a penalty to bring the score to 11-18 and soon added another to chip away at the Leinster lead. The Irishmen were then dealt a blow when a yellow card was awarded to Fergus McFadden and Robinson kicked to the corner to put pressure on them.
As the blues pushed for a try and tried to spread the ball an interception by hooker Jackman resulted in him charging up the field. He was caught by Tom James but eventually Keanaey touched down for a try in the corner.
The match descended into a farce for the Blues when they appeared to be attacking in the Leinster corner and the Irishmen once again broke away. Inter passing and a quick line out saw Sexton score and convert to put them on 30 points. Bradley Davies, Scott Morgan, Dai Flanagan and Richie Rees were introduced to try to stir things up a bit for the home side.
Eventually they did manage to cross for a try in the corner through Tom James but it was too little too late.
"If you look at the first half we were over the line twice and didnt score and the disappointing thing is I think we are a better team than them. In fairness what they did was defend really well with bags of heart and were clinical when they had the opportunities. They scored two tries from their own twenty two off our mistakes, so you have to give them credit but I think its a game we lost rather than they won. David Young
CARDIFF BLUES 15 Ben Blair 14 Jamie Roberts 13 Tal Selley 12 Dafydd Hewitt 11 Tom James 10 Nick Robinson (66off) 9 Jason Spice (69off) 8 Xavier Rush (c) 7 Robin Sowden-Taylor 6 Mark Lewis (65off) 5 Paul Tito 4 Robert Sidoli (65off) 3 Gary Powell 2 Gareth Williams 1 John Yapp 16 Scott Roberts 17 Ross Johnson 18 Bradley Davies (65on) 19 Scott Morgan (65on) 20 Richie Rees (69on) 21 Dai Flanagan (66on) 22 Tom Riley
LEINSTER: 15: Rob Kearney 14: Gary Brown 13: Fergus McFadden 12: Christian Warner 11: Luke Fitzgerald 10: Jonathan Sexton 9: Chris Whitaker 8: Jamie Heaslip
7: Shane Jennings 6: Kevin McLaughlin 5: Leo Cullen CAPTAIN 4: Trevor Hogan
3: Stephen Knoop 2: Bernard Jackman 1: Stan Wright 16: Brian Blaney 17: Juan Gomez 18: Cameron Jowitt 19: Stephen Keogh 20: Keith Gleeson 21: Cillian Willis
22: Ross McCarron
Attendance 5991
SCORERS:
CARDIFF BLUES LEINSTER
TRIES M Lewis L Fitzgerald x 2
T James Keaney
Sexton
PENALTIES N Robinson x 3 J Sexton
CONVERSIONS J Sexton x 3
DROP GOALS