By Andrew Collins
August 9 2007

Cardiff Blues began their season in style on Wednesday, as the 30-man squad tore Pontyprydd RFC apart, winning 47-0 thanks to a combination of 1st and 2nd half sides at Sardis Road.

It was a professional and controlled performance, which highlighted the gulf in class between Premiership and regional rugby. Ponty played their game well and looked fully committed, as you'd expect from any Ponty side, but were lacking the cutting edge that Ben Blair and his side were showing.

The handling was generally very good, apart from the occasion misses pass and rusty knock-on, with the set moves ripping apart the Sardis Road side. The forwards too dominated around the park, obliterating the young Ponty talent. Proof of that can be seen by the amount of scorers from the pack.

Gary Powell, Mark Lewis and Scott Morgan all scored from the forwards, whilst new boy Tal Selley joined youngsters Tom Riley, Dafydd Hewitt and Ryan Howells on the score sheet.

Dai Young has previously opted to field 2 sides for the match, a side for each half. It proved much a success, as both sides won convincingly, keeping a clean sheet in the process. Team one, as seen below, won their half 28-0, while the second 40 won 19-0.

Team 1

1. Rhys Gill 2. Ross Johnson 3. Gary Powell 4. Deiniol Jones 5. Paul Tito 6. Ben White 7.Robin Sowden-Taylor 8.Mark Lewis 9.Richie Rees 10.Nick Macleod 11.Rhys Williams (34off) 12.Dafydd Hewitt 13.Tom Riley 14.Ryan Howells 15. Ben Blair

Team 2

1.John Yapp 2. Gareth Williams 3.Scott Roberts 4. Bradley Davies 5. Scott Morgan 6. Maama Molitika 7. Rhys Shellard 8. Adam Powell 9.Jason Spice 10.Dai Flanagan 11.Rhys Williams 12. Marc Stcherbina (came on 34m) 13.Tal Selley 14.Ryan Howells 15. Jamie Roberts

The only bad news comes in the form of Scott Morgan, who suffered a broken hand. He will now miss the first game of the Magner's League with the Ospreys, but hopes to return in time for the clash with Newport Gwent Dragons.

After the match he said;

"I think from the Blues point of view it was good to put some of the patterns and structures together. I think it gave a clear indication on areas we have to work on. The forwards carried the ball a lot more so there were many positives for the squad to take out of the match."

His sentiments were echoed by debuton lock Paul Tito;

"Everyone was trying their hardest and put the effort in which is a positive sign, the squad are looking forward to building on that for next week. Fair play to them, Pontypridd ripped in to us as we expected but our boys stood up to that. But we kept a clean sheet showed and showed a good attitude and hopefully we can keep that going throughout the season."