Glasgow Warriors 29 Cardiff Blues 13
Friday 1 March 7.30pm kick off
It was Cardiff Blues’ first visit to Scoutstoun Stadium to take on second placed Glasgow Warriors. Having learnt form last week it was a good early start from the Blues who worked the ball well into the Glasgow twenty two. With conditions ideal for open rugby the home side also looked to throw the ball around and run up field.
The Warriors looked dangerous at times running through the midfield with Weir throwing long passes out to try to exploit the gaps but the Blues recovered well. However, it wasn’t long before they got their first try with Peter Horne breaking down the centre, handing off and touching down in the 16th minute. Weir converted.
The Blues nearly conceded another when a reverse flip pass from Patchell was intercepted by winger McGuigan. It nearly proved costly but Owen Williams did well to track back and put in the tackle. Glasgow were beginning to dominate, with some slack tackling letting runners through and if it wasn’t for some poorly executed tackles they would have scored another.
Despite the interception Patchell was looking sharp, breaking well and looking for support. Eventually the try came with the Blues working their way to the try-line before Navidi forced his way over from short range. Patchell converted to level the score.
Patchell and Weir exchanged penalties to make it 10all before Patchell but the Blues ahead, just before the break, with a simple penalty.
Half time Glasgow Warriors 10 Cardiff Blues 13
Glasgow threatened the Blues try-line early in the second half winning a scrum five and attacking before the Blues turned them over and Patchell broke away and kicked to clear the danger.
The Blues did well to work their way up to the Glasgow try-line with Patchell again gaining good ground and releasing Gavin Evans, before eventually they conceded a penalty and the Scottish side cleared.
It was end-to-end stuff but Glasgow who got the next score. Matawalu with a great individual effort, receiving the ball on the wing and chipping the defence before showing his pace to touch down. Wire converted to make it 17-13.
It wasn’t long before they got their third. Glasgow stretched the Blues
defence for a big gap to open in midfield for Duncan Weir to score under the posts and convert his own effort.
Glasgow sealed their bonus point and the win with another well taken try from Matawalu touching down in the corner that put the Scottish side at the top of the league.
Cardiff Blues 15 Chris Czekaj (65off) 14 Owen Williams 13 Richard Smith 12 Gavin Evans (c) 11 Harry Robinson 10 Rhys Patchell 9 Alex Walker (470ff)
8 Luke Hamilton 7 Josh Navidi (65off) 6 Rory Watts-Jones 5 James Down (47off) 4 Lou Reed 3 Benoit Bourrust (40off) 2 Kristian Dacey (47on) 1 Tafufa’ao Filise
16 Marc Breeze (47on) 17 Sam Hobbs (40on) 18 Tamba Petru 19 Maculey Cook (47on) 20 Thomas Young (65on) 21 Lloyd Williams (47on) 22 Gareth Davies (65on) 23 Cory Allen
Glasgow Warriors 15 Peter Murchie?14 Byron McGuigan?13 Alex Dunbar?12 Peter Horne?11 DTH van der Merwe?10 Duncan Weir?9 Niko Matawalu
1 Gordon Reid?2 Pat MacArthur?3 Jon Welsh?4 Tim Swinson?5 Al Kellock (Captain)?6 Josh Strauss?7 John Barclay?8 Ryan Wilson
16 Fraser Brown?17 Ofa Fainga'anuku?18 Moray Low?19 Tom Ryder?20 James Eddie?21 Henry Pyrgos?22 Scott Wight?23 Graeme Morriso
Cardiff Blues
Tries Navidi x 1
Con Patchell x 2
Pen Patchell x 1
D/G
Glasgow Warriors
Tries Horne x 1 Matawalu x 2 Weir x 1
Con Weir x 3
Pen Weir x 1
D/G
Yellow Cards
Attendance