By Andrew Collins
September 9 2007

Cardiff Blues thumped Newport Gwent Dragons 40-13 in front of over 5,000 watching fans at Rodney Parade on Friday night. Cardiff collected maximum points, taking them momentarily top of the Magners League.

Dai Young's side controlled from start to finish in the encounter, which saw the very best of fly half Nick Robinson. The Cardiff born back mixed things up superbly for the visitors, showing a range of abilities in kicking, running and passing.

The Blues first try was all down to Robinson, quick turn over ball went through the equally magnificent Ritchie Rees, to his fly half, who slotted a stunning cross field kick, right into the palms of the rushing Xavier.

Though he was soon tackled by Jamie Ringer, his offload to Jamie Roberts was of the highest quality, and once Roberts did the hard work, going around Martyn Thomas, he was left with a run in to the line, which he seemed to fully enjoy!

Likewise, the second try was all about the play of Nick Robinson. After receiving a pass seemingly on his own, with no options, the fly half run left across the Dragons defence handing off 3 players, before drawing two more men in from the wing and popping a pass to Rhys Williams, who, like last week against The Ospreys, had the simple task of falling over the line unchallenged.

Tal Selley completed the scoring in the first half after an intelligent break by the very impressive scrum half Ritchie Rees. Rees, making his league debut for the Blues, received clean line-out ball, dummied a pass to Xavier Rush, and was away like a shot through the gap in midfield. He then found fellow new Blue Selley, who had the pace and strength to shrug off one tackle, before crossing for the visitors third.

But for all their dominance, a few missed kicks, and 2 Dragons penalties, meant the home side were still in the match. A 6-20 score line meant there were just 2 scores separating the sides, but there was little fear for the watching Cardiff fans, who saw their side rip apart the Rodney Parade outfit in the opening 40.

Shortly after the interval, Cardiff were back camped on the Dragons line again, this time the result was a yellow card for fly half Aled Thomas, who clearly impeded the way of Rhys Williams after he'd put a kick behind the young defender.

Robinson, who's goal kicking was the only thing that wasn't perfect in his display, hit the post from the resulting penalty, but it worked out in their favour at the Blues reclaimed the ball from the upright, and went over the line for 7 points shortly after, with Selley doubling his account after an overlap.

Cardiff did sit back a bit after claiming their 4^th try, meaning they claim a bonus point, and when a ridicules decision to bin Paul Tito was called, the Dragon began to get some good moves strung together.

As for the incident itself, either the ref picked on the wrong man to bin, or it's impossible to say what the Kiwi lock was sent off for! However it was consistent refereeing from George Clancy, who was making terrible decisions all match long!

Dan Parks went over for the home side while the Blues were down to 14, a well worked move by the Dragons saw the flanker barge his way over and touch down courtesy of the video ref, a new introduction to the Magners League this season.

It meant that the Dragons were back within two scores once more, 13-27 down.

But any talk of a comeback was ended when Tito arrived back on the pitch, and substitute Joe Bearman went in the opposite direction moments later. His crime was a far more blatant one, a dangerous tackle, resembling that of a spear tackle, on Daffydd Hewitt left even Clancy in no two minds.

Then with 10 minutes to go, replacement number 8 Mark Lewis benefited from a break by Rees. With a man down in the scrum, the Blues elected for a scum in front of the posts, rather than taking a sure 3 points. Rees' break drew the flanker, but when he passed to the supporting Lewis, he was allowed to cross virtually unchallenged, with his opposite number in the bin.

Final Score
N-G Dragons 13 Cardiff Blues 40

theArmsPark.co.uk's Man of the Match - Nicky Robinson
Though the BBC game the award to Rees, who was very impressive, it was the diversity of Robinson's game that allowed the Blues to dominate the much in such a way. His array place kicking, cross field kicking, mixture of long and short passes as well as his running and decision making meant the Dragons defence were always to scared to close him down, and instead stood of him, allowing the players around him, such as Selley and Hewitt, to benefit.

Dai Young's Comment's
"We would have settled for that coming down here tonight. It was a great performance. We've still got things to work on, but I've got a big smile on my face. We held our composure when we got in front, we didn't play silly and I thought we were competitive around the park."

Ben Blair 6; Rhys Williams 7, Tal Selley 7, Dafydd Hewitt 8, Jamie Roberts 7; Nick Robinson 10, Richie Rees 9; John Yapp 8, Ross Johnson 7, Gary Powell 7, Deiniol Jones 7, Paul Tito 7, Ben White 7, Robin Sowden-Taylor 8, Xavier Rush (capt) 7.

Scott Roberts, Gareth Williams, Robert Sidoli, Mark Lewis, Jason Spice, Nick Macleod, Marc Stcherbina