Cardiff Blues 16 Ospreys 23
Saturday 30 March 2013 Millennium Stadium 5:15pm kick off
Cardiff Blues returned to the Millennium Stadium for their seventh time in front of a lively crowd and were keen to add another win to their list of victories at the national stadium.
Phil Davies had promised that his Blues side would fight fire with fire to get the better of regional rivals Ospreys in the double header encounter. A strong start by the Blues saw them attacking in the Ospreys twenty two early on. The Blues soon crossed over for the first try of the match, after good work from Rhys Patchell, who released captain Gavin Evans. The centre found support from Harry Robinson and a quick inside pass to Leigh Halfpenny allowed him to cross the line. Halfpenny converted the extras. The Ospreys soon added their first points to the board as Biggar slotted a penalty.
Ospreys were keen to get a try of their own and despite a stern Blues defense, James King broke through with a side-step on Halfpenny to see the visitors cross the whitewash for the first time in the game. Biggar slotted the conversion. The Blues looked for a quick reply and were award a penalty to even the scores after 24 minutes of play, Blues 10-10 Ospreys. But all their hard work was undone, as Biggar regained the Ospreys’ lead, as the Blues were penalised at the scrum.
A powerful break from Ospreys flanker Justin Tipuric after the scrum had been wheeled led to some more trouble for the Blues. Despite Leigh Halfpenny’s efforts to try to stop him, Tipric passed out to Jonathan Spratt, who crossed the line in the far corner. The try was confirmed by TMO. Biggar added a further two points to the Ospreys lead with the conversion.
Half time Cardiff Blues 10 v Ospreys 20
The Ospreys continued their pressure from the restart, with Tom Isaacs almost crossing the line after a quick tap penalty. However, the Ospreys were pulled back for a forward pass. The Blues had to reshuffle the line up as Gavin Evans was forced to leave the pitch with a blood injury. Lloyd Williams moved to the wing as Lewis Jones came on as a scrum half and Owen Williams moved to the centre.
The Blues were then awarded a penalty with Halfpenny securing the points to maintain his 100% kicking record for the game and bringing the home team within a converted try of the visitors. It soon turned into a tight period of play, with neither side gaining much ground as both defences held out strong.
Soon after the Blues gained a further penalty as Leigh Halfpenny continued to narrow the visitors lead but they were under pressure again soon after with a number of scrums just five metres out before they were penalised and Bigger extended the Ospreys lead to secure the match.
Despite a threatening passage of play the Blues failed to get the converted try to level the game and Tipuric stole the ball before kicking to touch to end the game.
Cardiff Blues 15 Leigh Halfpenny 14 Owen Williams 13 Gavin Evans (c) (46 off) 12 Dafydd Hewitt 11 Harry Robinson 10 Rhys Patchell 9 Lloyd Williams (61off)
1 Sam Hobbs (40 off) 2 Marc Breeze 3 Scott Andrews 4 Filo Paulo 5 Lou Reed 6 Michael Paterson 7 Sam Warburton 8 Luke Hamilton(40 off)
16 Kristian Dacey 17 Thomas Davies 18 Taufa'ao Filise (40 on) 19 Robin Copeland (40on) 20 Rory Watts-Jones 21 Lewis Jones (46 on/61on)22 Ceri Sweeney 23 Gareth Davies
Ospreys 15 Richard Fussell 14 Tom Habberfield 13 Jonathan Spratt 12 Ashley Beck 11 Tom Isaacs 10 Dan Biggar 9 Kahn Fotuali’i
1 Ryan Bevington 2 Richard Hibbard 3 Adam Jones 4 Alun Wyn Jones (Capt) 5 Ian Evans 6 James King 7 Justin Tipuric 8 Jonathan Thomas
16 Scott Baldwin 17 Duncan Jones 18 Dmitri Arhip 19 Lloyd Peers 20 Joe Bearman 21 Rhys Webb 22 Matthew Morgan 23 Ben John
Cardiff Blues
Tries L Halfpenny x1
Con L Halfpenny x1
Pen L Halfpenny x3
D/G
Ospreys
Tries J King x1 J Spratt x1
Con D Biggar x2
Pen D Biggar x3
D/G
Attendance: 36,174