Gloucester 40 Cardiff Blues 3
Saturday 28 January 3pm kick off LV= Cup
The Blues kicked off the match and got some early points with Ben Blair slotting a penalty in the second minute, showing he hadn’t lost his touch, despite not playing a game for 15 months.
However from then Gloucester took over and began to attack with Simpson-Daniel proving a threat. It was the cherry and whites who got the first try when they looked to pass the ball wide from their own half. Trinder went on a mazy run all the way into the Blues twenty two before slipping the ball to Peter Buxton who touched down under the posts. Mills converted.
Mills, who was making his Gloucester debut, soon extended the lead with three well taken penalties. The Blues were however creating chances and winning their share of ball but some basic handling errors was letting them down. They were also being turned over, which lead to them being punished, and kicked back to their own twenty two. Gloucester came close again when scrum half Dave Lewis gathered a neatly taken chip but was held up just short of the line.
Gloucester were beginning to turn the screw and having won a line out five metres out they looked to attack. The ball was spread to midfield where centre Tim Molenaar danced through two tackles, too easily, to score. Mills missed for the first time.
Half time Gloucester 21 Cardiff Blues 3
The Blues were failing to win ground when they did have ball in hand with the Gloucester defence pushing them back which resulted in the Blues kicking away possession in the hope of gaining ground. However, this only resulted in Gloucester attacking more.
The Blues did at least sped a period of time in the Gloucester twenty two midway through the second half, however, they failed to capitalise on any territory and Gloucester cleared. It was also an improved defensive performance with the Blues keeping Gloucester out.
However, this all changed in the 63rd minute. Gloucester had a scrum in the Blues twenty two and the ball popped out. It landed in the hands of James Simpson-Daniel who again danced through some missed tackles to score Gloucester’s third.
It wasn’t long before the English international got his second and Gloucester’s fourth. From another scrum in the Blues twenty two Deacon popped the ball up to Dave Lewis who fed Simpson-Daniel on the right. He showed his pace and power to crash over through some slack tackling. Mills converted. Andy Hazell scored the fifth from close range and it was a convincing win for Gloucester but a match that the Blues would also learn a lot about their young squad.
Cardiff Blues
Tries
Pen Blair x 1
Con
D/G
Gloucester
Tries Buxton x 1 Moleenar x 1 Simpson-Daniel x 2 Hazell x 1
Pen Mills x 3
Con Mills x 3
D/G
Cardiff Blues 15. Ben Blair (63off) 14. Richard Mustoe 13. Tom James 12. Cory Allen 11. Chris Czekaj 10. Gareth Davies (54off) 9. Lewis Jones (58off)
8. Luke Hamilton 7. Thomas Young (74off) 6. Josh Navidi 5. Macauley Cook (c) (67off) 4. Cory Hill 3. Sam Hobbs (63off) 2. Marc Breeze (54off) 1. John Yapp (58off)
16. Rhys Williams (54on) 17. Nathan Trevett (58on) 18. Ryan Harford (63on) 19. Matthew Screech (67on) 20. Ruben Tucker (74on) 21. Tom Rowlands (58on) 22. Rhys Patchell (54on) 23. Dan Fish (63on)
Gloucester 15 Tom Voyce; 14 James Simpson Daniel 13 Tim Molenaar 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu 11 Henry Tinder 10 Ryan Mills 9 Dave Lewis
1 Dan Murphy 2 Matias Cortese 3 Shaun Knight 4 Will James 5 Alex Brown 6 Peter Buxton (capt) 7 Andy Hazell 8 Brett Deacon
16 Darren Dawidiuk 17 Yann Thomas 18 Dario Chistolini 19 Matt Cox 20 Gareth Evans 21 Nick Runciman 22 Mike Tindall 23 Ian Clark
Yellow Card:
Attendance: 13,099