Cardiff Blues 18 Edinburgh 17
Saturday 9 October 5.45pm kick off
Edinburgh took and early lead in the match when Paterson slotted a penalty, Parks soon had a chance to equalise, but uncharacteristically missed the next three kicks at goal.
The Scottish visitors soon attacked down the right through Paterson and Visser but Halfpenny and Rush did superbly to track back and tackle to avert the danger.
It wasn’t one way traffic and the Blues best chance in the opening minutes came from a counter attack with Molitika slipping the ball to Halfpenny who did well to chip ahead and gather. He slipped the ball to Williams who passed back inside to T Rhys Thomas who just failed to gather in what looked a promising move into the Edinburgh half.
However, there were errors creeping into the Blues play and ten metres from their try line the Blues overthrew a lineout that bounced kindly for Edinburgh. Mike Blair carried the ball forward and Allan Jacobsen eventually crashed over to score.
The Blues nearly struck back immediately when Laulala slipped the ball to Blair who shipped it on to Halfpenny. The young winger sprinted for the line but just placed his foot in touch following a last gasp ankle tap tackle.
The move sparked the Blues to life and there soon followed a period of sustained pressure from the Blues that saw Martyn Williams break into the Edinburgh twenty two. Paterson made a professional foul and was sent to the bin for 10 minutes.
There then followed a period of attack with lovely interplay between forwards and backs with Rush and Czekaj exchanging passes before the ball was moved right. Eventually the ball spread back to the left where Laulala once again showed great hands and feet to pass on to Tito who slipped the ball to Czekaj to score. Parks converted.
Despite a poor start the Blues were now hitting their rhythm and showing what they were capable of and Parks slotted a penalty on 40 minutes to put the Blues ahead for the first time.
Half time Cardiff Blues 13 Edinburgh 10
It was an evenly balanced match but Edinburgh seemed to be having the better of the opening second half. However, a huge Czekaj kick put the Blues back in good field position in the Edinburgh twenty two but Parks just hooked his drop goal left. The Scottish outside also drifted a penalty kick minutes later but despite this the Blues seemed to be gathering momentum.
Edinburgh once again managed to clear their lines and nearly broke away for a try following a kick ahead from David Blair, however, the outside half failed to gather cleanly and Blues escaped what would had been a critical try.
It was a tense affair for the Blues faithful with Edinburgh now attacking and only a three point margin in the last ten minutes.
A great break by Richie Rees and support from Rhys Thomas gave them cause to cheer and the Blues were now back in the Edinburgh twenty two. They were going through the phases well and holding on to possession before Rush broke away on the right and slipped the ball back inside for Laulala to cross. There was much relief with the score but the game was far from safe.
David Blair nearly got one back straight from the kick off, cutting through the midfield, but Czekaj did superbly to tackle him just short of the line. However, Edinburgh moved the ball right and Ben Cairns crossed to score. Paterson converted to bring them to within a point of the Blues. However, the Blues had done enough to hang on for the win and go top of their Pool.
Cardiff Blues 15 Ben Blair 14 Leigh Halfpenny 13 Casey Laulala 12 Tom Shanklin (61off) 11 Chris Czekaj 10 Dan Parks 9 Richie Rees
8 Xavier Rush 7 Martyn Williams 6 Maama Molitika 5 Paul Tito (c) (66off) 4 Bradley Davies 3 Taufa’ao Filise 2 T Rhys Thomas 1 Gethin Jenkins (54off)
16 Rhys Williams 17 John Yapp (54on) 18 Scott Andrews 19 Deiniol Jones (66on) 20 Sam Warburton 21 Lloyd Williams 22 Ceri Sweeney 23 Dafydd Hewitt (61on)
Edinburgh 15 Chris Paterson 14 Jim Thomson 13 Ben Cairns 12 Alex Grove 11 Tim Visser 10 David Blair 9 Mike Blair
8 Roddy Grant (c) 7 Ross Rennie 6 Alan MacDonald 5 Fraser McKenzie 4 Scott MacLeod 3 Geoff Cross 2 Ross Ford 1 Allan Jacobsen
16 Andrew Kelly 17 Kyle Traynor 18 David Young 19 Craig Hamilton 20 Netani Talei 21 Greig Laidlaw 22 James King 23 Jim Thompson
Cardiff Blues
Pen Parks x 2
Try Czekaj x 1 Laulala x 1
Con Parks x 1
D/G
Edinburgh
Pen Paterson x 1
Try Jacobsen x 1 Cairns x 1
Con Paterson x 2
D/G
Referee Romain Poite
Yellow Card Parks x 1
Attendance 10,521
Man of match Casey Laulala