Blues still in the race - just

2-Try Stitch
By Andrew Collins
April 29 2006

A 30-12 win coutesy of a great second half ensured Cardiff are still in with a shout, but the failure to get the bonus may prove costly.

Talk of the title before kick off had a slightly strange feel to it, almost, nice. It may be a fair way off, but just to be in the mix with 4 games to go make such a nice change. Being able to watch the Dragons and Scarlets scrap amongst themselves for automatic qualification last night gave me a warm feeling in my stomach, going into today's Connacht match with no real pressure was lovely.

It was like stepping into a time machine at the Arms Park this afternoon, a Saturday match with a sensible kick-off, going for glory and a large crowd for Cardiff v the bottom of the table side. There was glorious weather too, the setting for something special...or so we'd hoped.

In a dire first half, the Blues went in 12-9, 3 penalty’s to the home side all from the boot of Nick Macleod who'd replaced Nicky Robinson on short notice due to a knock. Cardiff weren't playing particularly well, but some poor officiating from the lines men and referee did nothing to help the capital, as they struggled to kick into gear.

Mike Phillip's first half performance was a beacon of hope though, the Carmarthen born scrum half worked tirelessly around the base of the scrum, and was the only back to make any kind of distance with his runs.

Xavier Rush too was trying hard, the Kiwi number 8 made some big hits in defence and attack, and importantly holding onto the ball in the tackle. Apart from those two, there really was very little coming from the 'title contenders' in their final Arms Park outing of the season. With 5 points a realistic aim before the match, with no tries, and even losing, the title dream suddenly seemed a very distant memory.

Half Time

Cardiff Blues 9 Connacht 12

At half time, tributes were paid to 3 Cardiff legends who have been foreced to retire this season. Craig Quinnell and Dan Baugh both picked up signed shirts, while jamie Robinson collected one on behalf of Dean Dewdney. The trio differ in so many ways, position, nationality and style, but they all had one thing in common, 100% guys. All 3 gave everything they had no matter what the score, or how lost the cause was. They're a credit to the club, the region and rugby on the whole, great servants to the club, and we all wish you the very best in retirement.

Maybe there was a little word in the dressing room to look at those 3 players and take note, because the second half performance was fantastic, right from the word go.

The previously poor Macleod snapped into life, and a break through the Connacht defence set up a great position, his bewildered pass eventually found its way to Marc Stcherbina, who finished off superbly after a great dummy to Chris Czeakj. Macleod then finished the move in equal fashion, converting to give Cardiff the lead for the first time in the match.

Nick Robinson then came on, with the whole backline being re-shuffled, Craig Morgan went off, Rhys Williams went to the wing and Nick Macleod went to full back, with Robinson taking up the outside half spot. His introduction brought a whole new style to the side who suddenly seemed like scoring from anywhere.

And score they did, the influential Robinson threw a great long pass wide, having noticed the weak Irish defence. It was collected by Stcherbina, who unselfishly fed Gethin Jenkins who scored in the far left corner. Macleod kept up his 100% kicking rate, slotting over the hardest attempt of the afternoon.

It soon became clear that Cardiff had the victory; Connacht began trying to slow the game down, as the home side kept speeding it up. At every stoppage, a green shirt would fall to the floor and on came a surge of water boys and physio's, delaying play some more.

But when the restart came, the Blues were managing to keep the tempo high, and with just 10 minutes to go, were pushing madly for 2 tries that would get a much needed bonus point.

They were given a huge boost as well, when Tom Teirney was sin binned for killing the ball, and within minutes, Cardiff stretched their lead, and came within touching distance of a 5-point win that seemed so far off at half time.

Another great break from Nick Macleod started the move, with Chris Czekaj taking the ball on. And it was his great play that set up Marc Stcherbina's second try of the match, having beaten two defenders; he drew the final man superbly, before offloading with perfect timing to the Auzzie, who touched down right underneath the sticks.

Despite a great display of courage and determination, it wasn't to be the fantastic turn around that you felt it just might be, as the Cardiff Blues failed in their attempts to get that final 4th try.

It wasn't perfect, but it was a nice send off to the Arms Park for this campaign, in what had looked at one stage to be a very bad season. The second half display merited great credit, and the win mean that mathematically, the Blues have guaranteed their place in Europe next season, with the Dragons no longer in touching distance.

Half Time

Cardiff Blues 30 Connacht 12

After the match, head coach Dai Young told the BBC,

"We've got to be pleased with the win, but I suppose it's a measure of how far we've come that we're disappointed we didn't get a bonus point.

"We were messy on occasions, we weren't as accurate as we've been in the past, but we've got the win and we're still in with a shout of the title.

"We've got a huge game next week and we'll have to pick our performance up quite a bit to go to Ulster and win."

theArmsPark.co.uk Man of The Match – Nick Macleod
Having played very poorly in the first half, he came through and set up two tries with neat breaks in the second. He secured 15 of Cardiff’s 30 points, and had a 100% strike rate which kept us in the game. On the first half display, you wouldn’t mind him leaving, but it’s that underlying great player waiting to burst out that makes me think we should keep him. We stuck with Robinson after some shockers a few years back, and look where he is now. Lets stick with him at least another year, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll have another great Welsh fly half on ours hands. More of the latter 40 Nick, and you’ll be half way there (boom boom)!!!

As for the other results

Borders

25 - 41 (13 - 27)

Munster

Edinburgh

35 - 18 (12 - 8)

Llanelli Scarlets

Newport-Gwent D'gons

32 - 18 (25 - 6)

Glasgow

and at time of writing:

Leinster

23 - 9 (20 - 6)

Ospreys