Turnbull red card forces Blues to think on their feet

JOSH Adams made it eight tries in nine appearances for Cardiff Blues with a first half score that allowed his side to survive 38 minutes after the break with 14 men.

Josh Turnbull saw red for a dangerous tackle on Maxime Mbanda two minutes into the second half. Moments later Carlo Canna cut the gap to four points with his second penalty and the Blues were in a real scrap.

But they kept their shape, solved a lot of problems and dug deep to get their season off to a much needed winning start.

“It’s always really good to get a win first up, but also a win away from home is massive for us and it will help us build confidence going forward,” said Blues head coach John Mulvihill.

“The boys played well especially being down being down a red card just after half-time. They deserve a lot of credit for doing some problem solving on the pitch.

“We were good with the ball, but we did not have many opportunities in attack. Defensively we stood up and we will keep working on our attack to put teams under pressure.

“Over the last decade we haven’t been as consistent as we need to be and that’s something we’re working on.

“Connacht are next up and they will come at us. They have some really good attacking weapons and we just need to be up to it again on Saturday.”

Zebre moved the ball from side to side in a high-tempo opening, but the Italians lost wing Federico Mori to the sin bin when he took out Matthew Morgan in the air. Jarrod Evans slotted a penalty, but his opposite number Carlo Canna missed from point blank range to level the scores.

Canna was more successful with his second kick at goal to level and Evans then missed the target. He made no mistake with his conversion of Adams’ 25th minute try after the Wales wing had chased a cross field up and under and benefitted from a kind bounce before speeding over the line from the 22.

That meant the Blues went into the break 10-3 to the good, but far from clear. Superb turnover work from Corey Domachowski marked the start of the second half before the Blues prop and Turnbull both tackled Mbanda.

Turnbull’s shoulder connected with the head of the Zebre man leaving George Clancy no option other than to send him off. Canna immediately kicked the penalty.

Evans stretched the lead with his second penalty in the 56th minute before limping off with cramp. Jason Tovey stepped up and kicked a penalty with his first touch and Blues held on.