Scarlets 16 Cardiff Blues 39
Blues secure Heineken Cup rugby next season with bonus point win over Scarlets.
Scarlets v Cardiff Blues
Parc y Scarlets, 6.30pm
Stephen Jones kicked off proceedings on another sunny afternoon in a crucial match for both sides.
The Blues started strongly, with a break by Jamie Roberts and follow up by Ceri Sweeney looking promising, but the outside half was penalised for holding on inside the Scarlets twenty two. The Blues had a golden opportunity to score early on, as Rees looked to spread the ball. Laulala made the break and went himself, despite having men outside, but knocked on the ball just as he stretched for the try line.
The first try of the evening came from Laulalas fellow kiwi centre Regan King. The Scarlets won clean ball from the line out and Stephen Jones released King, who stepped inside Ben Blair to touch down with Jones converting.
Blair slotted a penalty following Scarlets diving in to cut the deficit and minutes later the Blues gained good ground from a line out and were crashing forward. However, the Scarlets defence was solid, until Laulala took out two defenders with slick hands and put Jamie Roberts in the corner. Blair added the difficult conversion to put the Blues ahead.
Jones equalled the scores with a simple penalty and slotted a drop goal to regain the lead, in what was another entertaining match between both teams
Again the Blues attacked the Scarlets line with Czekaj and Roberts proving a handful as they spread the ball left. The forwards drove on from the rucks and eventually Deiniol Jones crashed over in the corner. Blair this time failed with the difficult conversion but Jones was accurate with his boot to bring the half time score to 16-15
Half time Scarlets 16 Cardiff Blues 15
The Blues got off to a great start in the second half. Having patiently worked their way into the Scarlets twenty two they built a good platform to attack from.
Richie Rees passed on to Rush who powered into the Scarlets defence but slipped a nice pass to Filise to sprint over unopposed under the posts.
The Blues next try was a superb effort. With the Scarlets attacking the Blues won the ball on the floor and Xavier Rush broke away and timed his pass for Roberts to sprint in at the corner for his second of the evening. Blair added the conversion.
The Blues broke away for the next try with Czekaj picking up and passing on to Laulala. Jamie Roberts continued the move and timed his pass to Richie Rees, and the young scrum half had the gas to reach the corner ahead of Damian Welch. Blair again was accurate with the boot and slotted a late penalty to put the icing on the cake for the Blues and relegate the Scarlets to Amlin Cup rugby next season.
Referee Nigel Owens
Yellow card
Attendance 10,171
Cardiff Blues 15 Ben Blair 14 Leigh Halfpenny 13 Casey Laulala 12 Jamie Roberts 72off 11 Chris Czekaj 10 Ceri Sweeney 74off 9 Richie Rees 66off
8 Xavier Rush 7 Martyn Williams 66off 6 Maama Molitika 5 Paul Tito (c) 4 Deiniol Jones 69off 3 Taufa'au Filise 2 Gareth Williams 66off 1 Gethin Jenkins 69off
16 T Rhys Thomas 66on 17 John Yapp 69on 18 Andries Pretorius 69on 19 Sam Warburton 66on 20 Lloyd Williams 66on 21 Dai Flanagan 74on 22 Dafydd Hewitt 72on
Scarlets 15 Daniel Evans, 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Regan King, 12 Jonathan Davies 11 Andy Fenby, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Tavis Knoyle,
1 Phil John, 2 Ken Owens, 3 Rhys Thomas, 4 Lou Reed, 5 Dominic Day, 6 Josh Turnbull, 7 Richie Pugh, 8 David Lyons (capt).
Replacements: 16 Deacon Manu, 17 Emyr Phillips, 18 Damian Welch 19 Rob McCusker, 20 Martin Roberts, 21 Rhys Priestland, 22 Lee Williams
Cardiff Blues
Try Roberts x 2 Jones x 1 Filise x 1 Rees x 1
Con Blair x 4
Pen Blair x 2
D/G
Scarlets
Try King x 1
Con Jones x 1
Pen Jones x 2
D/G Jones x 1