BLUES' HOODOO MOVES TO NEW VENUE
Blues: 21 (10) Edinburgh Rugby: 22 (14)
Late last season, Embra made the last competitive match at the Arms Park a rather unhappy one for the Blues with an expansive win. They kicked off the new season by hanseling the new Cardiff City Stadium with another. At one point, the margin may have been rather smaller than last time. But even home coach Dai Young recognised that it should not have been: "Let's be honest, if we had won we'd have nicked it."
Two fine tries in an opening 20 minute blitz saw Embra explode into the new term. For much of the evening Cardiff had no answer to the pace of the visitors' offloading game. Had Chris Paterson not had an uncharacteristically poor evening with the boot this Magners fixture would have been over by half time. Particularly had the officials also noticed that Chris Czekaj had not one but two feet (count 'em) clearly in touch well before he touched down for Cardiff's opening try. It would be churlish to point out that both touch judges were Welsh.
The returning Phil Godman bossed the game from stand-off. A marked contrast with his opposite number, expensive antipodean import Norton-Knight, who was at the root of much that went wrong for the Blues. Only when that reliable playmaker Ceri Sweeney came on in the final quarter did Cardiff look at all dangerous. Even then, a foolish decision to knock a kickable penalty to touch rather than take the points surely cost them dear.
Though Xavier Rush is a fine player, it seemed slightly bizarre to hear him being named Man of the Match. For it was the Edinburgh back row who dominated the breakdown; a rare feat against Cardiff, but they clearly miss the great Martyn Williams. Roddy Grant was everywhere around the tackle area, while Alan MacDonald proved the link man supreme. Meanwhile, Ali 'Hoggy' Hogg put in yet another dominant display. He may not be quite as quick as he used to be as he has bulked up, but he has matured into a classy ball carrying No. 8.
And it was the pack who really took control of the match in the dying minutes. It would have been understandable had they wanted to go for the fourth, bonus point, try. But with Cardiff looking frisky late on the ball was crying out to be stuck up the jumper. With Laidlaw pulling the strings well, they calmly killed the clock with a series of pick and drives in Cardiff territory, the little scrum half booting the ball to touch on no-side for the win.
Alan MacDonald powered over for the first try to be scored in the new arena on ten minutes. The score was created by Godman's vision, nipping through a gap in the rushing defence before feeding the charging blindside. Paterson goaled for a 7-0 early lead.
Then it was the turn of Tim Visser, The Dutch Mark Robertson. Again, it was the mercurial midfield mini-maestro, Phil Godman, who was the creator. After Kiwi full back Ben Blair had knocked over a penalty, Godman nipped through a gap before sending a looping pass out to the big winger. The only non-Scot in the Embra squad marked his regular season debut with a touchdown in the corner on 16 minutes. Edinburgh's back three were a feature of much of this match, with Robertson's powerful counters a joy to watch.
Edinburgh were in complete control and really should have stretched their lead, so bamboozled were the Welsh side. Yet Czekaj's controversial score after half an hour brought the Blues within touching distance at the break. Though they had been taken apart in the first period, they had hung on in determined fashion and were by no means out of it.
Almost immediately after the restart, Godman sent a leisurely bomb to the right wing. Robertson beat Czekaj for the ball and set sail for the line. He timed his pass to perfection, releasing Paterson for an easy, if lengthy, run for the line. Mossy followed with a penalty to take the visitors to 22-16 up.
That coulda, shoulda been game over. But credit to Cardiff. Once the abject Norton-Knight had been unceremoniously removed from the fray, they started to use Rush to take the ball up and their back row began to get over the gain line, Cooper releasing his backs well. Yet while old stager Gareth Thomas scored a good individual try late on to make things interesting, that was the only time in the match that Edinburgh's defence really looked in trouble.
They could have stolen it, though. Blair's conversion attempt was eminently kickable. But the New Zealander pulled it wide to leave Cardiff one point adrift. And then Laidlaw and the pack closed things down on a good evening for Scottish sides (a Dan Parks inspired Glasgow side have just seen off Munster 22-9 at the Firhill Arena).
This was a good start. But that's all it is. Let's build on it when Connacht visit Murrayfield next Friday.
MAN OF THE MATCH: XAVIER RUSH.
SCORING:
Blues: Blair 3P 1C Czekaj 1T, G Thomas 1T Cons: Blair. Pens: Blair 3.
Edinburgh: Paterson 2C 1P 1T, MacDonald 1T, Visser 1T
Cardiff Blues: Ben Blair; Leigh Halfpenny, Gareth Thomas, Dafydd Hewitt, Chris Czekaj; Sam Norton-Knight, Gareth Cooper; Darren Morris, Gareth Williams, Gary Powell, Bradley Davies, Paul Tito (capt), Maama Molitika, Robin Sowden-Taylor, Xavier Rush.
Replacements: Taufa'ao Filise, T Rhys Thomas, Scott Morgan, Sam Warburton, Richie Rees, Ceri Sweeney, Dafydd James.
Edinburgh: Chris Paterson; Mark Robertson, Ben Cairns, John Houston, Tim Visser; Phil Godman, Greig Laidlaw; Allan Jacobsen, Andrew Kelly, Geoff Cross, Craig Hamilton, Scott MacLeod, Alan MacDonald, Roddy Grant, Allister Hogg (capt).
Replacements: Sean Crombie, Kyle Traynor, Steve Turnbull, Fraser McKenzie, Ross Samson, David Blair, Nick De Luca.
Referee: Fitzgibbons (IRFU)