The ball was secured from the scrum and James Hook looked to spread the ball wide. Good strength by Lee Byrne on the right, saw him hand off Aled Brew, before slipping the ball to Shane Williams who sprinted in to score. Hook hit the conversion just wide. The Ospreys looked dangerous when they spread the ball with Shane Williams always a threat on the wing.
Allinson was playing well for the Blues again with some snipping runs and Andy Powell was also breaking through the defence, as he had done against Leinster on Saturday. The Blues were doing well working their way well into the twenty-two but were failing to cut through the defence at the crucial moment.
It was the other Ospreys wing, Tommy Bowe, who had the next opportunity. He cut right through mid-field but fortunately for the Blues there was no support after Blair put in a crunching tackle. Minutes later Bowe was causing panic in Ospreys defence putting Hook under pressure. The young outside half eventually threw the ball back over his try line for a Blues scrum five yards out. The Blues through their own errors wee being pushed out but were eventually awarded a penalty on the twenty-two that Blair slotted. It was an encouraging first half for the Blues and they were still very much in the game.
Half time Ospreys 5 Cardiff Blues 3
The Ospreys came out in the second half and showed their intent. Tiatia made a barnstorming run through midfield all the way into Blues twenty-two. The Ospreys were then awarded two penalties in five minutes, for Blues offside, and Hook converted both to give the Ospreys a 11-3 lead.
From the restart the Ospreys attacked and a powerful run by Lee Byrne saw him shake off some half-hearted tackling and slip the ball to Hook who sprinted in to score under the posts. There was worse to come. An Ospreys scrum on the halfway line saw the ball passed out to Hook who put in a deft chip that Tommy Bowe did exceptionally well to hack on. The ball fell kindly into the hands of the Irishman who collected and sprinted in to score. Hook added the difficult conversion to bring the score to 25-3. The Blues looked in trouble and there was only one team in it in the second half.
Hook got his second try of the evening and the Ospreys fourth to secure the bonus point when they worked a good move off the line out. Brew did gate a late try for the Blues following good work by the forwards. Blair converted in the last minutes of the match but it was too little too late.
Try Brew Pen Blair Con Blair DG
Try S Williams, Bowe, Hook x2 Pen Hook x 2 Con Hook x 3
15 Ben Blair 14 Richard Mustoe 13 Jamie Robinson 12 Jamie Roberts (40off) 11 Aled Brew 10 Ceri Sweeney 9 Darren Allinson 8 Andy Powell 7 Robin Sowden Taylor 6 Ben White (70off) 5 Scott Morgan 4 Bradley Davies (66off) 3 Gary Powell (75off) 2 T. Rhys Thomas 1 TaufaÂ’ao Filise (40off/75on)) 16 Gethin Jenkins (40on) 17 Gareth Williams 18 Paul Tito (66on) 19 Maama Molitika (70on) 20 Jason Spice 21 Nicky Robinson 22 Tom Shanklin (40on)
Attendance 8,499