Glasgow Warriors 17 Cardiff Blues 5
Friday 23 November7:30pm Magners League Firhill Arena
The Blues started well and a good break by Rhys Williams looked promising. However, a turnover and some slack defence let Thom Evans slip through the Blues defence all the way to Cardiff twenty two.
Minutes later, an interception by Dan Parks inside Blues half, saw the fly half sprint all the way in to touch down in the corner. Glasgow gained confidence from the score and a good attack by John Barclay cut through the defence and only a forward pass prevented a second Glasgow try.
Glasgow seemed to dominating territory and possession and come close to the try-line. From a lineout Glasgow spread the ball out and the Blues were deemed to be offside. Parks kicked the penalty.
The Blues also tried to spread it wide and passed the ball out to the backs. Dafydd Hewitt showed his strength holding off his man to pass to Selley. The centre slipped the ball to Rhys Williams who showed his speed and his strength to beat two men and touch down. Blair missed the conversion
Parks added another penalty before Blair hit a post with his effort minutes later.
HALF TIME GLASGOW 11 CARDIFF BLUES 5
The second half started with Glasgow coming close to scoring when Chirs OYoung chipped through but Blair just managed to touch down to prevent the try. Glasgow then carried the ball forward and eventually awarded a penalty that Parks converted. Parks soon extended the lead with a neatly taken drop goal.
Blair was unlucky once again hitting the upright with a penalty attempt. And the Blues failed to really start in the second half.
The Blues were forced to make substitutions with nasty injuries to Rhys Williams and Rob Sidoli. Williams suffering a dislocated knee cap and Sidoli a dislocated shoulder.
The Blues by now had started to string moves together before it eventually broke down and the Scots cleared. A late charge by Molitika all the way into twenty two looked promising as the Blues threatened the Glasgow tryline. However an interception and kick upfield saw Glasgow finish in Blues half as they had done for most of the match.
15 Ben Blair 14 Rhys Williams (70off) 13 Tal Selley 12 Dafydd Hewitt 11 Gareth Thomas 10 Dai Flanagan 9 Jason Spice (79off) 8 Mark Lewis (78off) 7 Martyn Williams 6 Scott Morgan (78off) 5 Robert Sidoli (42off) 4 Bradley Davies 3 Gary Powell 2 Gareth Williams (79off) 1 John Yapp (9off19on 40off) 16 Taufaao Filise (9on19off) (40on) 17 Ross Johnson (79on) 18 Deiniol Jones (42on) 19 Mama Molitika (78on) 20 Darren Allinson (79n) 21 Ryan Howells (70on) 22 Ben White (78on)
15 Bernardo Stortoni 14 Hefin OHare 13 Andrew Henderson 12 Daryl Gibson 11 Thom Evans 10 Dan Parks 9 Chris OYoung 1 Justin Vaa 2 Fergus Thomson 3 Moray Low
4 Andy Newman 5 Alastair Kellock CAPTAIN * 6 Kelly Brown 7 John Barclay 8 Johnnie Beattie Substitutes 16 Eric Milligan 17 Ed Kalman 18 Opeta Palepoi 19 James Eddie
20 Sam Pinder 21 Scott Barrow 22 Graeme Morrison
Attendance:
SCORERS:
CARDIFF BLUES GLASGOW
TRIES R Williams x 1 D Parks x 1
PENALTIES D Parks x 3
CONVERSIONS
Drop goal D Parks x 1