Away days hold no fear for Cardiff and Evans
CARDIFF Blues head coach Danny Wilson believes his side proved their European credentials by hanging on to claim another French scalp at Lyon.
They must travel, however, in the last eight despite winning five of their six pool matches.
It looked as if the game would get away from the Blues when Dylan Cretin and Pierre-Louis Barassi capitalised in a breathless opening quarter.
But scores from Lloyd Williams and Tomos Williams added to a penalty try completed a clean sweep against French opposition.
Wilson said: “It wasn’t our prettiest performance but it was a great result. Four wins from four against French opposition shows what we can do so we know we can go away and win.”
The Blues got off to the worst possible start as they fell seven points behind within the opening minute. Powerful No.8 Tai Tuifua burst clear before feeding Delon Armitage who sent Cretin over.
The Blues’ lineout was misfiring and the French cashed in on 23 minutes.
Clement Ric broke away after another wayward throw before Alex Cuthbert’s defensive frailties were exposed.
The Wales wing failed to collect Freddie Michalak’s kick and centre Barassi pounced to score. But they got back in the game 30 seconds before half-time when outsidehalf Jarrod Evans ghosted through before feeding half-back partner Lloyd Williams. Evans was on target from the kicking tee to cut the gap to 12-7 at half-time.
The Blues tactic of turning down kickable penalties finally paid off when Matthew Rees threw-in and latched onto the back of a maul.
Lyon were powerless to stop the Blues’ shunt, and when it was pulled to the ground, ref Matthew Carley had no option but to award the penalty try and bin Lyon flanker Theophile Cotte.
Both sides were down to 14 moments later when Evans brought down a driving lineout, and Beauxis took the opportunity to kick his side back into the lead.
Try-scorer Barassi was the next to see yellow after slowing the ball on the ground, and the Blues took advantage.
Evans broke the line again and fed Tomos Williams for the try. Evans converted and the Blues bravely held on.