Newport Gwent Dragons 19 Cardiff Blues 14
The rearranged match started with Dan Parks getting the first points of the evening with a well taken penalty, however, the Dragons struck back instantly. A sloppy pass by Paterson to Tom James, just in front of the Blues tryline, saw young second rower Jevon Groves pounce on the ball to score with Robling converting. Robling soon extended the lead with a further penalty.
Both teams tried to spread the ball in what was as expected a fiercely contested Welsh derby match.
The Blues soon got back in to it with a well taken Tom James try. Richie Rees stole the ball from the clutches of Tuilagi and the ball went left where James sprinted in from 60 yards to score. Parks was wide with the conversion.
Despite some good breaks by Blues second rower Macauley Cook the Blues failed to add to the score with the half ending at 10-8.
Half time Newport Gwent Dragons 10 Cardiff Blues 8
The second half started with Lewis Robling adding another penalty to extend the Dragons lead. Parks soon got one back after the Dragons were penalized at the ruck.
Harry Robinson showed his class gathering a neat Parks kick and bouncing off two defenders coming to within yards of the tryline. From there, the Blues won another penalty and again Parks hooked it wide.
Steffan Jones, who had come on from the bench for the Dragons, bit the upright with a penalty effort and it seemed there was a lot of endeavour on display but not much skill.
However, Blair had come on for Czekaj and made an instant impact. He put in a neat chip that Chavhanga failed to gather as it bobbled towards the Dragons tryline. Despite pressure from James and Sweeney, Wayne Evans just managed to get back and dab down the ball for a drop out twenty two
The Blues were dominating territory and managed to claim the lead in the 68th minutes. Richie Rees was pulled don without the ball by Wayne Evans and the Blues were awarded a penalty that Ben Blair converted to make it 13-14.
The lead didn’t last for long. A long pass to the left found Chavhagna who sprinted into the twenty two and chip past Ben Blair. He gathered the ball and despite the efforts of Richie Rees touched down to put the Gwent side ahead. They missed the conversion but were still two penalties ahead.
The Blues fought to get back on the scoreboard with the game finally coming alive but the Dragons managed to kick away the danger and hang on to the lead.
15. Chris Czekaj (60off) 14. Harry Robinson 13.Gavin Evans 12.Dafydd Hewitt (48off) 11. Tom James 10. Dan Parks 9. Richie Rees
8. Xavier Rush 7. Martyn Williams (54off) 6. Michael Paterson 5. Cory Hill (76off) 4. Macualey Cook 3. Scott Andrews 2. T Rhys Thomas (c) (52off) 1. Sam Hobbs (52off)
16. Ryan Tyrell (52on) 17. John Yapp (52on) 18. Ryan Harford 19. Maama Molitika (76on) 20. Josh Navidi (54on) 21. Lewis Jones 22. Ceri Sweeney (48on) 23. Ben Blair (60on)
Newport Gwent Dragons Team
15 Martyn Thomas 14 Will Harries 13 Andy Tuilagi 12 Ashley Smith (C) 11 Aled Brew 10 Lewis Robling 9 Wayne Evans
1 Nathan Williams 2 Steve Jones 3 Nathan Buck 4 Jevon Groves 5 Rob Sidoli 6 Lewis Evans 7 Darren Waters 8 Tom Brown
Replacements
16 Sam Parry 17 Phil Price 18 Dan Way 19 Hugo Ellis 20 Hywel Stoddart 21 Joe Bedford 22 Tonderai Chavhanga 23 Steffan Jones
Cardiff Blues
Tries James x 1
Pen Parks x 2 Blair x 1
Con
D/G
Newport Gwent Dragons
Tries Groves x 1 Chavhnaga x 1
Pen Robling x 2
Con Robling x 1
D/G
Yellow Card:
Attendance: