London Wasps 15 Cardiff Blues 18
Amlin Challenge Cup semi final Saturday 1 May 6.15pm kick off
With the heavens opening just before kick off there was a downpour at High Wycombe as the Blues prepared to face former Amlin and Heineken Cup winners London Wasps.
The wet surface and slippery ball was proving to be tricky for both sides with Sweeney doing well to kick for territory, the ball bouncing into touch off the corner flag. From the clearance the Blues carried strongly through Rush who was unlucky to knock on only yards from the tryline. However, the Blues were awarded a penalty but Blair’s effort drifted wide.
There was a large faction of vocal traveling support getting behind the team as Sweeney again kicked for the corner, knowing the ball would skid into touch.
Walder converted a penalty on twenty minutes to give the Wasps the first points of the day after Deiniol Jones was penalised for coming in from the side, but Blair again missed with his effort a minute later.
The Blues were playing with tempo with forwards carrying strongly with the pitch heavy underfoot and eventually the try came when Rush took a quick free kick and the Blues spread the ball right, with Rhys Thomas giving a great pass to Halfpenny, who stepped inside and dived over. The conversion drifted wide but Walder kicked another penalty following Blues coming in from the side again to restore the Wasps lead.
Walder added another minutes later to extend the lead to 9-5 before Blair slotted a straightforward effort just before half time.
Half time London Wasps 9 Cardiff Blues 8
Walter slotted his fourth penalty almost directly from the restart to maintain his 100% record and they came close to scoring with a powerful run from Dan Ward Smith.
Blair narrowed the deficit with a long-range effort in what was turning to be an old fashioned wrestle in the mud. Shaw was shown a yellow for coming into the side again and Halfpenny was close with his penalty effort from 60 yards.
The Blues got the next try following some great driving work from the forwards. They were picking and driving from the rucks before Gethin Jenkins powered over to give the Blues the lead again. Blair converted.
The Blues were now applying pressure, keeping Wasps pinned back in their own twenty two but with only three points in it following Walder’s 5th penalty, it was another tense last 10 minutes. The Blues were dealt a blow when Scott Andrews was shown a yellow, which would mean they would play the rest of the match with 14 men.
With four minutes left Wasps were awarded a penalty following an infringement in the ruck and Walder stepped up but his long-range effort went wide and the Blues clung on for a famous win and book their place in the final in Marseille against Toulon.
Referee Romain Poite
Yellow Cards Simon Shaw Scott Andrews
Attendance 8,413
Cardiff Blues 15 Ben Blair 14 Leigh Halfpenny 13 Casey Laulala 12 Jamie Roberts 11 Chris Czekaj 10 Ceri Sweeney 9 Darren Allinson
8 Xavier Rush 7 Martyn Williams 6 Ma’ama Molitika 73off 5 Paul Tito (c) 53off 4 Deiniol Jones 3 Taufa’ao Filise 53off 2 T Rhys Thomas 74off 1 Gethin Jenkins
16 Gareth Williams 74on 17 John Yapp 73on 18 Scott Andrews 53on19 Bradley Davies 53on 20 Sam Warburton 21 Dai Flanagan 23 Richard Mustoe
London Wasps 15 Mark Van Gisbergen 14 Paul Sackey 13 Ben Jacobs 12 Dominic Waldouck 11 David Lemi 10 Dave Walder 9 Joe Simpson
8 Dan Ward Smith 7 Rom Rees (c) 6 Joe Worsley 5 George Skivington 4 Simon Shaw 3 Phil Vickery 2 Rob Webber 1 Tim Payne
16 Tom Lindsay 17 Ben Broster 18 Sakaria Taulafo 19 John Hart 20 Serge Betsen 21 Danny Cipriani 22 Steve Kefu 23 Tom Varndell
Cardiff Blues
Tries Halfpenny x 1 Jenkins x 1
Pen Blair x 2
Con Blair x 1
D/G
London Wasps
Tries
Pen Walder x 5
Con
D/G