Cardiff Blues’ Heineken Champions Cup hopes were dealt a blow as Glasgow Warriors struck early to claim an impressive bonus-point win at the Arms Park.
Almost 10,000 supporters packed into the ground as top tier European rugby returned to the Welsh capital for the first time since 2014.
They were buoyed by a Round One victory over Lyon last weekend but Glasgow, who are leading Conference A in the Guinness PRO14, came flying out of the blocks.
The Scots claimed two tries, through Adam Hastings and DTH van der Merwe, within four minutes of the kick-off.
John Mulvihill’s men dominated for large periods but were unable to make a scoring opportunity stick.
Glasgow claimed their third try within minutes of the second-half resuming with Ali Price finishing another break from deep.
Aled Summerhill responded midway through the half to give Cardiff Blues hope but it was extinguished when Johnny Gray galloped over in fortuitous circumstances.
Summerhill capped his impressive afternoon, from a personal perspective, with a second try but it was merely a consolation.
Cardiff Blues drop to third in Pool Three with a Christmas double-headers against pace-setters Saracens up next in the competition.
It took less than two minutes for Glasgow to claim the opening try at a packed Cardiff Arms Park.
They dominated the opening exchanges and following a sustained period of pressure Adam Hastings ghosted in from close range.
Hastings missed the conversion but he was back at the tee just two minutes later, with the Blues barely touching the ball.
The Scottish outfit were running the ball from everywhere and following an attack from deep and some neat offloads they put DTH van der Merwe away.
Hastings made no mistake with the boot on this occasion, giving Glasgow a 12-0 lead after just four minutes.
The quick-fire tries silenced the Arms Park crowd but the team were undeterred and slowly regained their composure.
Playing into a deceptively strong wind, they kicked a succession of penalties to the corner but were unable to turn pressure into points.
Their attack was also finding its rhythm with all of the backline threatening on several occasions, most prominently Aled Summerhill and Gareth Anscombe.
It looked as though they would claim a try when Lee-Lo collected Willis Halaholo’s dab through but his pass to Jason Harries was forward.
While the Blues’ efforts were unrewarded, Glasgow kept the scoreboard ticking when Nick Williams was harshly penalised after appearing to claim a turnover at the breakdown.
The penalty, again from the boot of Hastings, gave the visitors a 15-0 lead and they held onto it going into the break despite a fine counter-attack that saw Halaholo put Dillon Lewis through a hole.
He found Tomos Williams in support on the inside but he was tackled and a phase later the ball was lost.
Matters were made worse in the second-half as the Warriors again struck within minutes of kick-off.
Van der Merwe displayed his devastating pace once more as he eased on the outside of the Blues midfield defence before finding Ali Price in support.
Hastings added the extras to give Glasgow a commanding 22-0 lead and the Blues a mountain to climb.
They finally opened their account on 47 minutes with a fine try. A searing break from Anscombe laid the foundations and while his flick inside did not go to the hands of Evans for a try, Lewis scooped it up to maintain continuity.
The ball was recycled and Evans dinked a low chip to the corner, which Summerhill collected to score.
Anscombe was unable to add the extras as his conversion sailed narrowly to the right of the uprights.
The try clearly instilled a sense of belief in Cardiff Blues and they almost claimed a quick-fire second when they worked numbers on the left.
Evans poked another kick to the corner but the bounce evaded Jason Harries and Tommy Seymour collected.
Wales’ Capital Region continued to threaten with Anscombe making another break, in which he beat two men before being caught short.
Glasgow compounded the Blues’ woes when Matt Fagerson collected a Hastings stab through and released Gray to canter over.
The home side crossed for a late consolation score as Matthew Morgan released Summerhill for his second.
Cardiff Blues return to Guinness PRO14 action next week with a trip to South Africa, where they will take on Toyota Cheetahs, before back-to-back home games against Zebre Rugby and the Syft International Challenge clash vs. Uruguay.