BLUES BATTLE BACK TO TAKE THE HONOURS
CARDIFF Blues made a welcome return to winning ways after coming from behind to secure an entertaining bonus-point win over Benetton at Cardiff Arms Park.
The hosts, who came into this clash after back-to-back defeats, were slow out of the blocks during a sluggish first-half showing that saw the Italians run over three tries, with Ian Keatley grabbing the first after just 10 minutes.
Irne Herbst crashed over to seemingly put the visitors in control, before a well-taken converted try from Jason Harries kept the Blues within touching distance.
Nevertheless, the Blues continued to labour, and were punished again when Toa Halafihi finished off a well worked move down the left.
Indeed, the visitors were good value for their 19-7 lead at the break.
Head coach John Mulvihill, who welcomed back Six Nations stars Hallam Amos and Seb Davies to his starting XV as part of five changes from the defeat at Connacht, will surely have been demanding more from his side as they headed back to the dressing room at half-time.
But he will have been pleased by the reaction from his players, who drew themselves level with touchdowns from centre Garyn Smith and wing Ryan Edwards either side of visiting skipper Keatley’s yellow card.
Benetton came into this clash on the back of a horrendous run of form themselves, having suffered three straight defeats and, with parity restored, the contest appeared to be heading one way.
But once again the Blues were guilty of naivety in defence, with Halafihi barging his way through what felt like an endless line of missed tackles to earn his second try of the game.
Having worked so hard to get back into the game, the hosts were forced to dig deep once again.
And the pendulum swung back in their favour 10 minutes from time.
A well-worked move that involved Amos, Ben Thomas and Will Boyde eventually allowed the ball to be worked to Davies, who, at full stretch, managed to touch down for the score.
Jason Tovey added breathing space with a late penalty, but there was still time for the hosts to seal the victory with one more try at the death.
A superb run from Amos on the counter allowed the space to open up for Edwards, who was halted just shy of the line, only for Lewis Jones to swoop in, dummy the defence and clinch a hard-earned victory for Mulvihill’s men.