Cardiff let it slip on a bad night for ace Navidi
CARDIFF let a 16-3 half-time lead slip away as they went down to a 29-19 defeat on a night when their Wales star Josh Navidi suffered a worrying injury.
Making his first appearance of the season following his postlions tour break, the flanker had to come off after eight minutes.
He damaged his shoulder in tackling opposing blindside Jacques du Plessis and it didn’t look good as he departed clutching his hands together, with his right arm being supported by one of the medical team.
Wales coach Wayne Pivac will now face an anxious wait for news with the autumn international campaign just three weeks away. Apart from that setback, the first half went well for Cardiff, who built a 13-point buffer through a close-range try by lock Matthew Screech after a series of forward carries, and four successful kicks from fly-half Rhys Priestland. But the Bulls were to dominate the second period with their physicality and power coming to the fore as they won the battle of the gainline.
They came flying out of the traps on the resumption, as No. 8 Elrigh Louw powered his way over after a charge from former Springboks hooker Bismarck du Plessis.
Replacement fly-half Chris Smith – who was to finish with a 19-point haul – added the conversion and a subsequent penalty to cut the deficit to just three points. Then, on the hour mark, came a big moment when wing Madosh Tambwe hacked on a loose ball and beat Priestland in a race for the touch down.
There was a lengthy TMO referral to see whether centre Harold Vorster had knocked the ball forward in tackling Hallam Amos in the build-up.
But after watching numerous replays, referee Chris Busby decided he hadn’t and awarded the try, with Smith converting and extending the visitors’ lead with a further successful kick at goal.
The two fly-halves exchanged penalties before Smith had the final word three minutes from time to deny Cardiff even a losing bonus point.
That meant the second-half score was 26-3 in the Bulls favour. What a turnaround.
CARDIFF: Hallam Amos; Owen Lane, Rey Lee-lo, Ben Thomas, Josh Adams; Rhys Priestland, Lloyd Williams; Rhys Carré, Kirby Myhill, Dmitri Arhip, Seb Davies, Matthew Screech, Josh Navidi, James Ratti, Will Boyde. Replacements: Kristian Dacey, Corey Domachowski, Dillon Lewis, Rory Thornton, Josh Turnbull, Tomos Williams, Willis Halaholo, Matthew Morgan.