Rodney Parade is fast becoming somewhat of a happy hunting ground for Owen Lane.
Last season he announced himself on the regional rugby stage with a man-of-the-match performance to inspire Cardiff Blues to a Boxing Day victory.
This weekend he bagged two tries, both displaying deadly finishing, as Wales’ Capital Region battled back from a 12-point deficit to record a seventh straight victory over the Dragons.
There was no Guinness PRO14 award for Lane at full-time on this occasion, instead it was picked up by Gareth Anscombe, but he was delighted to see his side make it three on the bounce after three agonising losses at the death at the beginning of the season.
He said: “Anscombe was pretty impressive to be fair so there’s no hard feelings there but obviously I was happy to cross the whitewash twice.
“For us that was just a massive win, the first derby of the year. Rodney Parade is a tough place to come and to come here and preform like we did, we’re really happy.
“It was a slow start and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous but we came together and in fairness to the boys, they dug in deep and we got the result, which was the most important thing.
“It was a really big win for our season. It was well documented that we didn’t really perform to the best of our ability in the first three games but I don’t think we were particularly doing anything too wrong, we just weren’t doing it for the full 80 minutes.
“So to come down here and perform like that after going down and then coming back for the full 80 was really pleasing for me and most importantly our season. Hopefully we can keep our form going into Lyon in the Champions Cup.”
Lane’s first half try brought the Blues back into the game and they entered half-time seven points adrift of their East Wales rivals.
With the wind behind their backs in the second-half and some improved ball retention, they dominated affairs with Kristian Dacey rumbling over before Lane completed his personal brace.
He added: “It was a big hit from Josh Lewis but I managed to get to my feet and then it was just an arm wrestle into the corner. I wasn’t really sure at the time if I stayed in field but when I looked back I was pretty convinced.
“The message at half-time was not to panic, to stick to our structures and play in the right areas of the field.
“We had the wind in the second half and we knew we could use that to our advantage and try to pin them back and make them play from deep, which we did and it worked well.
“We stuck to our systems and kept the ball and that was when we caused them problems. The forwards did really well to keep the ball and give us backs some space out wide.
“The second was a good team try and Rey (Lee-Lo) did really well to draw them in and give me a bit of space on the edge. Luckily I was one-on-one in the end and managed to get over in the corner.”
Cardiff Blues kick-off their Heineken Champions Cup campaign against Lyon on Sunday, October 14, before returning to the Arms Park to take on Glasgow Warriors a week later.
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