GETHIN’S EMOTIONAL FAREWELL
Gethin bows out after Blues victory:
GETHIN Jenkins made a major impact during his final appearance for Cardiff Blues to ease them to a bonus-point victory over Zebre in the Guinness PRO14.
The Wales and Lions great, who has been forced to call it a day by a chronic knee problem, replaced Brad Thyer with 23 minutes remaining to a standing ovation from a decent crowd of 6,426.
The Blues had been treading water during a drab affair and were in urgent need of the two more tries for the four required for a bonus point.
Jenkins soon stamped his authority on affairs with his mere appearance ensuring his team-mates picked up the tempo.
He was at the heart of a strong shove at a 5m scrum which brought a try for No. 8 Nick Williams.
Samoa centre Rey Lee-Lo got the bonus-point score when he sprinted through a gap and added another late-on.
Jenkins took the final conversion but blasted it wide but it didn’t matter, he had been on the pitch less than 16 minutes and it was job done.
Players from both teams and the crowd gave the 37-year-old a warm send-off at the end, which was only fitting.
Outside-half Steven Shingler had put the Blues in front with a longrange penalty in the third minute.
Zebre had a chance to draw level seconds later but goal-kicker Francois Brummer pulled his attempt wide.
Shingler put in a beautifullyweighted super grubber-kick for fullback Tom Williams to chase and dive on the ball for the opening try.
Shingler had a difficult conversion attempt from near the touchline and the ball sailed just wide of the target.
There was an ovation for Jenkins as he jogged along the touchline on the way to doing some exercises behind the Zebre dead-ball line.
Zebre bombed a clear try-scoring opportunity by taking the wrong option and the Blues punished them after launching a counter-attack.
It culminated in a penalty in enemy territory, which Shingler landed to build an 11-point lead.
A drab first half came to an end with the Blues accidentally putting the ball out of play while on the attack.
Why they put boot to it and didn’t keep it in hand was astonishing because they had numbers and Zebre were in retreat.
But it summed up the fare that had been on offer, with Zebre without a load of Italy internationals and the Blues missing their Wales aces.
Shingler put a penalty into the corner eight minutes into the second half and the Blues won the line-out before heaving hooker Kirby Myhill over the line for their second try, Shingler successfully converting.
The Blues had to scramble back to prevent Zebre from opening their account from a high-speed attack.
Zebre should have scored — it needed just one more pass — but eventually went the wrong way and coughed up possession.
The third quarter of the match was abysmal and resembled a training ground run-out. But the arrival of the no-nonsense Jenkins ignited the Blues and they got that precious bonus point for him to finish a glorious career on a high.
BLUES: T Williams; A Summerhill, G Smith, R Lee-Lo, J Harries; S Shingler, L Williams (capt); B Thyer, K Myhill, S Andrews, G Earle, S Davies, J Turnbull, O Robinson, N Williams.
REPS: K Dacey, G Jenkins, K Assiratti, J Down, S Manoa, L Jones, D Fish, H Millard.
ZEBRE: G D’Onofrio; G Di Giulio, T Boni, N De Battista, P Balekana; F Brummer, R Raffaele; C Ah-Nau, L Luus, E Bello, D Sisi (capt), L Krumov, J Bianchi, A Tauyavuca, A Koffi.
REPS: M Manfredi, D Rimpelli, R Tenga, S Ortis, D Ruggeri, M Azzolini, J Elliott, G Venditti.
REFEREE: George Clancy (Ireland).
ATTENDANCE: 6,426.