By Andrew Collins
January 28 2006

The Blues slumped to their 5th successive defeat on Friday with Scottish region Edinburgh Gunners the latest side to add to Dai Young’s woes. It makes for very depressing reading as the Blues must now face up to some hard-hitting facts.

Macleod 5; Czekaj 7, J Robinson 6, Hewitt 5, Lomu 6; L Thomas 7, R Powell 7; Yapp 7, Goodfield 6, Jenkins 6; Quinnell 7, Goode 6; Molitika 7, Sowden-Taylor 8, Rush 8.

Stcherbina (J Robinson 74) 6, M Phillips (R Powell 59) 5, B Evans (Jenkins 75) 5, B Davies (Quinnell 79) 6.

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Dai Young had rung the changes after last week’s disaster at Headingway, with many high profile names including captain Rhys Williams being dropped from the squad. Players such as Ryan Powell, Lee Thomas and youngster Dafydd Hewitt were all given a chance to prove that all is not lost in the camp, and Dai should remain at the helms, but it didn’t work out that way.

 

Cardiff had a lot to prove and a huge amount to repay the fans going into the game, and in fairness they looked committed from the kick-off. It seemed fitting that match captain, Xavier Rush gathered the kick-off and ran with malice into the rushing Scottish defence. Lee Thomas cleared from the resulting maul and there was an element of desire about the opening 10 minutes.

 

But as we’ve grown used to this season, it was the away side that took the lead. Firstly a penalty from fly-half Duncan Hodge, followed a by a controversial drop goal from Captain Rob Lawson. Lawson passed to Hodge in the Blues 22 and despite what appeared a clear knock on from the number 10, the scrum half gathered the loose ball to convert a tight drop effort.

In fairness to the players, the first half didn’t show the Blues up. They were battling and defending well, with Robin Sowden-Taylor seemingly on a solo mission to right the recent wrongs.

 

It wasn’t a lack of pride of passion; it was just a lack of skill.

 

There seemed no game plan with their attacks. As much as they were trying to break the line, they were trying on their own and with little success. The ball was spread wide from every maul, and no-one was offloading in the tackle, they were making it easy to defend and going backwards.

 

The game was crying out for a on-form Rhys Williams to cut the angle and rip through the drift defence, but there was no Williams and every attack seemed to pitter away to nothing.

 

Lee Thomas eventually got the Blues on the board with a penalty, but it meant the home side were trailing 6-3 at the break.

 

Half Time:

 

Cardiff Blues 3 Edinburgh Gunners 6

 

They came out strong in the second half, and looked desperate to win the game, however it seemed clear that no-one in the dressing room had pointed out the change of tactics needed and once again players were struggling to make any sort of advantage.

 

Chris Czekaj was a player who looked desperate to get in on the action. After resorting to up and under kicking, he chased doggedly and successfully on a number of occasions. But again, it was one mans attempts, not a team performance.

 

Another re-occurring theme was the poor handling. Whatever your views on Young, Howley, Webster or the board, these kind of mistakes can only be down to the players themselves.

 

A perfect example would be Jonah Lomu. The kiwi threatened on a few occasions with ball in hand, and produced one fine run from deep midway through the half, but his handling on the floor was ridicules. Far too many times the ball was knocked on, lost in the turn-over and generally poor passes were given from 1 to 15.

 

Things seemed to pick up in the half however as the Blues were awarded back-to-back penalties both converted by Thomas. They were also a player up, after prop Dickinson was sin-binned.

 

Cardiff began to push for that illusive try that would’ve just edged them out of sight after taking a 3 point lead. Some better build up got them into the 22, but yet another spillage resulted in a break-away try that eventually won the Gunners the match.

Nic De Luca made the initial break, kicking the Scots down-field with no full back. After collecting a kind bounce, Mike Phillips tackle wasn’t enough as he fed Argentine Leonelli who galloped under the posts for a converted try to seal the match.

 

The Blues came close after another up and under chase from CC, but when Marc Stcherbina overran the ball, he was correctly adjudged offside from Czekaj’s hack through and play was brought back for a penalty to the Scotsmen.

 

Another loss, and with just 1 bonus point to cling to, problems are mounting at the Arms Park. Fans need a piece of good news soon, and with no matches until March it’ll be a very long time until the players get a chance to put things right.

 

Final Score:

 

Cardiff Blues 9 Edinburgh Gunners 13

 

theArmsPark.co.uk Man of the Match: Robin Sowden-Taylor

He battled tirelessly and was at every breakdown doing all the clearing out work. A passionate and proud Cardiffian, Robin is a big fan favourite and games like this are exactly why. He was joined by Chris Czekaj and Xavier Rush in working hard with some effect, while Ryan Powell and Dafydd Hewitt tried but looked out of their depth.

 

Facing Facts:

This is the first time in the Blues’ short history that they’ve failed to score a try in 3 successive games. 15 points scored from home matches against Perpignan and Edinburgh and away against Leeds compared to the 82 we’ve conceded signal real problems for the region.

 

Here’s another for you, the Blues have lost every game since Nick Robinson’s injury against the Scarlets. Despite the fly-half being one of the most inconsistent players in Wales, he still seems to be the one the Blues look to for inspiration. Nick Macleod and Lee Thomas have both tried to fill his void, but neither came close even to a miss-firing Robinson.

 

And most depressing of all, Cardiff Blues have failed to win a match in 2006. Although that’s currently just the month of January, there won’t be another game until March, and home against the Ospreys by no means a cert. It could be a very long year for the Cardiff Blues fans.