Turnbull try completes Blues’ late comeback
CARDIFF Blues captain Josh Turnbull praised the resilience of his side after they ground out a narrow victory over archrivals the Dragons in horrible conditions at Rodney Parade.
This game was downright ugly with Newport feeling the full force of Storm Bella making the conditions unplayable at times. But the Blues will care little for the manner of the win as they showed great character to record their 11th straight victory over the Dragons.
“The Dragons wanted an untidy game like that because they wanted to cause us problems at the contact area,” said Turnbull. “We knew with the wind in the second-half we could claw back the points and that’s what we did. We kicked the ball deep down the middle of the field and we got our rewards.
“In the second-half we played in the right positions and were able to put them under pressure which eventually meant we could get some points.”
Turnbull scored Cardiff ’s only try with Wales international outside-half Jarrod Evans kicking eight points. All the Dragons’ 12 points came from the boot of Josh Lewis, who was standing in for the injured Sam Davies.
The Dragons led 9-0 after the opening quarter with Lewis knocking over three penalties as the Blues conceded nine penalties in that period.
Playing into the elements created by Storm Bella, Cardiff were behind the pace with the Dragons look
ing far hungrier which forced the Blues into numerous mistakes.
It took John Mulvihill’s side 21 minutes to enter the Dragons 22 when a powerful attacking lineout shoved their hosts over the line. Kristian Dacey looked as if he had grounded the ball, but referee Craig Evans referred the decision to the TMO who disallowed the try asTavis Knoyle had
got underneath the Wales hooker.
But the Blues were finally able to build some pressure in the Dragons 22 and they turned around 9-3 behind with three points from Evans’ boot putting them within touching distance at half-time.
Despite playing into the wind, the Dragons began the second half strongly with Lewis kicking another
three points after a period of sustained pressure in the Cardiff 22.
Evans quickly cancelled out Lewis’ effort with a penalty of his own as the Blues dominated the rest of the third quarter.
Cardiff were now in complete control of territory and possession and they lay siege to the Dragons try line with the hosts finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the dynamism of the Blues’ ball carriers.
With Cardiff ’s dominance came indiscipline from the Dragons with centre Jack Dixon penalised for taking Josh Adams out off the ball.
Evans put the ball in the corner which allowed the Blues to set a driving lineout deep in the Dragons 22. Despite a valiant defensive set by the Dragons, the versatile Turnbull powered over from short-range.
Evans added the extras to put the Blues into a onepoint lead with 12 minutes to go and they refused to give the Dragons a sniff in the final stages of the game.
“It was a strong wind in that first half and we had it, but it just wasn’t quite a big enough lead to hold out in the second half,” said Dragons captain Jamie Roberts. “They converted their pressure – they scored a try and we didn’t. It’s desperately frustrating.”