Edinburgh 14 Cardiff Blues 21
Saturday 22 January 5.45pm kick off
With Munster beating London Irish earlier in the afternoon the Blues were playing for pride as they took on the side from the Scottish capital.
Early on the Blues won the ball at line out and a superb timed pass by Slater put Laulala through who sprinted deep into the Edinburgh half, before the Blues won a penalty that Parks converted.
Paterson soon equalized following Laulala being penalized for a dangerous tackle. However, Halfpenny struck a long distance effort after Edinburgh had collapsed a scrum to regain the lead.
The fist try of the evening came following Edinburgh putting pressure on the Blues on the right hand touchline. Jones kicked through and despite Slater doing well to get back to cover, the Blues failed to kill off the danger and Cairns kicked ahead and gathered to touch down in the corner.
Parks missed a relatively simple penalty when he seemed to stab at the ball and it was Edinburgh who finished the half strongly, breaking ground into the Blues twenty two, before being awarded a penalty that Paterson converted to give them a 11-6 half time lead.
Half time Edinburgh 11 Cardiff Blues 6
The Blues were awarded a penalty almost from the restart and this time Parks slotted it. Paterson got one back after the Blues came in from the side at a ruck and it was turning into a kicking contest between the two Scottish fly halfs.
Edinburgh nearly scored from a De Lucca interception after Parks had thrown a long missed pass, which allowed Edinburgh to come within yards of the tryline. Halfpenny did well to track back and tackle Jones who had carried on the move before the Blues cleared.
The most threatening Blues move came when Czekaj put in a good chip kick ahead, followed by a Sweeney grubber, that Czekaj gathered and did well to beat his man and slip a pass to Halfpenny, who came within a yard of the Edinburgh tryline. The forwards carried on the move but some stubborn Scottish defence kept them out.
However, eventually the Blues were awarded a penalty that Halfpenny slotted, with Parks having been substituted earlier, and added another two more within a space of 5 minutes to give the Blues the lead.
The scores had lifted the Blues game and Mustoe looked threatening with his pace and strength with the Blues doing well to work their way yards from the tryline before knocking on and Halfpenny was equally dangerous on the other wing.
Halfpenny got his 5th penalty to extend the Blues lead and with Saints winning out in Castres, it ensured that the Blues finished second in their group. However, it was still not enough to book them an Amlin Cup quarter final place.
Cardiff Blues Team:
15 Chris Czekaj 14 Leigh Halfpenny 13 Casey Laulala (74off) 12 Jamie Roberts 11 Richard Mustoe 10 Dan Parks (51off) 9 Tom Slater
8 Maama Molitika 7 Martyn Williams 6 Andries Pretorius 5 Paul Tito (c) 4 Deiniol Jones (59off) 3 Scott Andrews (59off) 2 T Rhys Thomas (64off) 1 John Yapp (70ff)
Replacements: 16 Gareth Williams (64on) 17 Tafa'ao Filise (59on) 18 Sam Hobbs (70on) 19 Bradley Davies (59on) 20 Ben White 21 Ceri Sweeney (51on) 22 Dafydd Hewitt (74on) 23 Tom James
Edinburgh Team
15 J Thompson 14 L Jones 13 B Cairns 12 N De Luca 11 S Webster 10 C Paterson 9 M Blair
1 A Jacobsen 2 R Ford 3 L Niven 4 S MacLeod 5 E Lozada 6 D Denton 7 A MacDonald 8 R Grant [capt]
Replacements: 16 K Traynor 17 G Cross 18 D Young 19 F McKenzie 20 S McInally 21 G Laidlaw 22 R Samson 23 J King
Cardiff Blues
Tries
Cons
Pen Parks x 2 Halfpenny x 4
D/G
Edinburgh
Tries Cairns x 1
Cons
Pen Paterson x 3
D/G
Referee John Lacey
Yellow Cards Alan Macdonald, Dafydd Hewitt
Attendance 2,379