Exiles exposed by Blues flier Summerhill

A HAT-TRICK from wing Aled Summerhill set up this opening warm-up game victory for the Blues at the Athletic Ground.

Three tries either side of half-time were pivotal for the Blues, who had several debutants and a number of players returning from injury.

Head coach Danny Wilson said: “We played a lot of youngsters and guys back from long term injuries so it was good to get time under their belts and we scored some great against a tough opposition. Scottish fought back but we showed good character to get a driving line-out to finish.”

The Welsh-side took the early initiative with Summerhill just missing a grubber kick in the first minute before grabbing a try in the opposite right corner when a Blues scrum led to fly-half Jarrod Evans opening the winger up in acres of space.

Scottish leveled the scores four minutes later after good work from wing Connor Hayhow before flyhalf Basil Strang dived over.

Despite being weaker in the scrum, the Exiles spent 20 minutes deep in the Blues half but struggled to capitalise on the awayside’s poor discipline.

Cardiff centre Harri Millard put the pink and blue shirt’s back in front after getting on the end of a good inside offload from Summerhill.

The Athletic Ground erupted in applause in the 33rd minute after Summerhill picked up the ball from the breakdown and sped 20 metres to score a solo try.

The Blues sealed the first-half with hooker Kirby Myhill finishing a catch-drive try.

After Summerhill got his third on the 48th minute, the Exiles fought back with prop Ed Milne scoring before No.8 Danny Kenny grabbed another.

But the Blues withstood the pressure and Cook rounded of the win.

Scottish director of rugby Dave Morris said: “There was a lot of good stuff but I don’t like losing. We worked ourselves into a position to get the win and I would have liked that.

“We got too narrow defensively in the first half but looked threating in the second.”