Glasgow Warriors 15 Cardiff Blues 26
Friday 11 February, 7.35pm kick off, Firhill Stadium
Glasgow kicked off and Duncan Weir got them on the scoreboard straight away with a well-slotted penalty, following the Blues infringement in the scrum. However, Sweeney levelled from the restart following some good work by Pretorius carrying the ball strongly into the Glasgow twenty-two.
The first try of the evening came for Blues winger Tom James. A good tackle by Gavin Evans in the Blues twenty-two saw the ball fall into the Welsh wingers lap and James sprinted in from 70 yards unopposed. Sweeney was wide with the conversion.
The Blues were kicking well for territory, aiming to keep Glasgow in their own half, but looked threatening when they kept ball in hand also. Glasgow had a half chance when scrum half Colin Gregor went on a mazy run through the midfield, before Tom James did well to pull him down, but the Blues failed to clear the danger and Weir slotted another penalty after the Blues were caught offside defending. Weir maintained his 100% record with a long distance effort from his own half from the restart to put Glasgow back head.
Sweeney slotted another goal a few minutes later but Weir again put Glasgow ahead just before half time with a penalty in what was a tight game.
Half time Glasgow Warriors 12 Cardiff Blues 11
The second half started with Sweeney adding to his tally after Glasgow had drifted offside, but again Weir was equal to the task, before Sweeny slotted another, with the lead changing hands it would appear anytime the team was in the opposition half.
Rush and Jones came on in the 50th minute in place of Molitika and Griffiths as the Blues aimed to freshen up things in the forwards and the Blues soon extended their lead with two Ceri Sweeney efforts. The second penalty saw Glasgow blindside Robert Harley sent to the bin for a high tackle.
Sweeney and Weir both missed kicks at goal and with 10 minutes left there was only 8 points in it.
There was time for a late rally with Mustoe coming into the line at pace and breaking through the midfield to within 10 yards of the try-line. The Blues looked to build on the platform but were penalised and Glasgow cleared. However, Sweeney slotted his 7th kick of the evening to make the game safe and see the Blues move to third in the Magners League.
Cardiff Blues 15 Dan Fish 14 Richard Mustoe 13 Gavin Evans 12 Dafydd Hewitt 11 Tom James 10Ceri Sweeney 9 Tom Slater (66off)
8 Ma’ama Molitika (49off) 7 Martyn Williams 6 Andries Pretorius 5 Paul Tito (c) 4 Bryn Griffiths (49off) 3 Scott Andrews 2 T Rhys Thomas (63off) 1 Tafa’ao Filise
16 Gareth Williams (63on) 17 Sam Hobbs 18 Nathan Trevett 19 Deiniol Jones (49on) 20 Xavier Rush (49on) 21 Rhys Downes (66on) 22 Lewis Williams 23 James Loxton
Glasgow Warriors 15 Bernardo Stortoni 14 Hefin O’Hare 13 Federico Aramburu 12 Peter Murchie 11 DTH van der Merwe 10 Duncan Weir 9 Colin Gregor (c)
1 Ryan Grant 2 Fergus Thomson 3 Ed Kalman 4 Aly Muldowney 5 Tom Ryder 6 Robert Harley 7 Calum Forrester 8 Johnnie Beattie
16 Finlay Gillies, 17 Kevin Tkachuk, 18 Jon Welsh, 19 Chris Fusaro, 20 Ryan Wilson, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Peter Horne, 23 Colin Shaw
Cardiff Blues
Tries James x 1
Pen Sweeney x 7
Con
D/G
Glasgow Warriors
Tries
Pen Weir x 5
Con
D/G
Yellow Card: Harley
Attendance: 1,917
Referee: Dudley Phillips (IRFU)