By Andrew Collins
December 23 2005

Cardiff Blues recored their first ever away win against a Welsh region last night, as they beat the Ospreys 28-9 at their new Swansea-based stadium, The Liberty.

Rhys Williams (capt) 8; Chris Czekaj 8, Jamie Robinson 9, Marc Stcherbina 8, Craig Morgan 9; Nick Robinson 9, Mike Phillips 9; Gethin Jenkins 8, Rhys Thomas 8, Martin Jones 8, Deiniol Jones 7, Robert Sidoli 7, Andy Powell 8, Martyn Williams 8, Xavier Rush 9

Ben Evans 6 (M Jones) Duane Goodfield 7 (R. Thomas), Craig Quinnell 7 (D. Jones), Robin Sowden-Taylor 7 (Rush), Ryan Powell 6 (Phillips), Roger Warren 6 (N Robinson), Tristan Davies 6 (J Robinson).

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The Blues gave fans an early Christmas present on Thursday night, as they convincingly beat the Opsreys on their own, brand new, patch. Not only have the Blues had a woeful record away from home in the last few years, but with the O's winning the previous 3 encounters, fans were forgiven for early pessemism.

But nobody can doubt that Cardiff were tactically spot on midweek, with the major match plan of exploiting Kiwi full back Aiden Cashmore under the high ball paying dividends throughout the match, the Blues built themselves a platform upon which heart and pride carried them to a memorable victory.

And it was Cardiff who opened the scoring, with a try from unlikely hero, Deiniol Jones. The move was started in the Blues half following a quick tap penalty from Mike Phillips, his run brought the attack into the Ospreys 22, and after a great long miss pass from Nick Robinson, the heavily criticised lock managed to cross to give the Blues a 7 point lead.

Sean Connor missed a simple penalty attempt minutes later, but converted his second attempt as it looked as though ill disiplin may creep in to the away side.

Any concerns that the first try was a flash-in-the-pan, were put to one side when the Blues streched their lead with another try.

The Blues took lineout ball and spread to covering fly-half Craig Morgan, he fed Jamie Robinson as the outside centre found a gap an galloped 25 meters, he then offloaded supurbly with a huge pass to Chris Czeakj, who crossed in the far right corner giving the Blues a deserved 14-3 lead.

Robinson's tactical, touch and goal kicking had been perfect all match, a perfect example of the confidence player Nicky is. On this form, he offers such creativity, and means the backs around him are able to perform. His opposite number found goal shortly after Czeakjs try, closing the gap to just 8.

Mike Phillips was harshly sin binned for a supposed high tackle on number 8, Jon Thomas, but in his absence, the Blues struck the post from a penatly, and continued to dominate.

Czekaj should've given the Blues a massive boost before half time, after being put over the line following great work from the supurb Jamie Robinson. Czekaj crossed, but was excellently held up by Shane Williams who denied the try and gave his team some hope going into the break.

Half Time
The Ospreys 6 Cardiff Blues 14

Cardiff scored first again in the second half, 2 successful penalty attempts from Nick Robinson earnt the away team a bigger margin for which to build. Cashmore struck for the Neath/Swansea region, but it was to be the last points they would score as the Blues turned on the style.

Mike Phillips once again terrorised the defence with a quick tap penalty taken from within his own half. The scrum half handed off Shane Williams with ease as he set up another excellent position, but instead of going to ground, he offloaded to Nick Robinson, he made more ground with a surge upfeild, but it was his long pass to Craig Morgan that proved a real killer, with the winger touching down for Cardiff's 3rd try, Robinson missed the difficult goal shot.

The Blues can feel aggreived with the referee following a blantent illegal tackle, in a try scoring opertunity. Nicky tried a cross feild kcik, which was there for the taking for Craig Morgan, however the winger who'd had an excellent game was tackled before the ball was near him. Ref Phil Fear did give the Blues a penalty, but a yellow card was surely the right option for auch a cinical foul.

Robinson extended the Blues lead, as the capital side seemed ever more likely to pull off an impressive away win.

However, the last 10 minutes was all Ospreys, but the Blues defended supurbly and kept disaplin to grind out a super result. As "Bad Day" blasted through the tannoys at the state of the art stadium, Blues fans left feeling that maybe at long last, the Capital region have turned that corner and can reagin their status as Wales' best, and what a better place to start that recergence than at the home of the champions.

ArmsPark.tk Man of the Match: Jamie Robinson
A magnificent performance from the centre, his best since returning from that long absence last year. He seems to be firing on all cillinders, and be in perfect harmony with his team mates, he also looks like he's regained the prolific pace that makes him such a dangerous player. Will be looking to make 2006 his year, with Gavin missing most of the 6 nations, there is an opening in the Welsh squad, he'll be hard pushed to make it, but more performances like this one will see himknocking on Ruddocks door sooner rather than later.