By Andrew Collins
April 24 2006

Appologies this has taken so long to get on here, i was away for the match and though i did see it, i wasn't home early enough to write it.

Infact, i wrote a perfectly good report on Saturday, but my computer crashed about a minute before i was set to realease - Very annoying!

Anyway, as you all know by now the Cardiff Blues did their 3rd double of the season by beating the Dragons in their lair! It's now the 5th match Cardiff have won on the trott, and with Saturdays game against Connacht at home, that run could well be increaseed.

The win sees the Blues in the dizzy heights of 3rd position in the league, just 5 points of league leaders Leinster, who still have to come to the Arms Park in the last home game of the season.

It also moves Cardiff into that safety zone, in which (following the Scarlets thumping of Gwent on Saturday) they cannot realistically be caught by the lowest Welsh region unless they pull of a few big upsets and we don't get any points from our remaining games.

It's a big turn around for the region, who were left in tatters after the doble loss to Perpignan and Leeds in Europe, and it's great to see all the 'boo-boys' who wanted Dai out being silenced by some recent great wins.

It's the first time the Blues have won at Rodney Parade in their 3 season history, and the scoreline shows a win, it doesn't show Cardiff's dominance throughout.

Having played the 3 other regions home and away, the Blues can proudly boast to have won 5 out of the 6 games, leaving it in little doubt that Cardiff are indeed the best in Wales.

As for the match itself, tries from Mike Phillips and Chris Czekaj aswell as a penalty, conversion and drop goal by Nick Robinson ensured the win. The Dragons rarely looked like scoring and indeed their only try of the match came from a stolen line-out on the Blues 5-metre line, which was collected and scored by Mike Owen.

Final Score

N-G Dragons 13 Cardiff Blues 18

Young said following the match,

"The result keeps us on a roll and it was due reward for our guts and determination."

Team:
Rhys Williams (capt) 7; Chris Czekaj 8, Marc Stcherbina 8, Tristan Davies 6, Craig Morgan 6; Nick Robinson 8, Mike Phillips 7; John Yapp 7, Rhys Thomas 6, Gethin Jenkins 7, Deiniol Jones 9, Rob Sidoli 7, Kort Schubert 8, Martyn Williams 7, Xavier Rush 8.

Scott Roberts, Duane Goodfield, Mark Lewis, Robin Sowden-Taylor, Ryan Powell, Nick Macleod, Lee Thomas

theArmsPark.co.uk Man of the Match - Deiniol Jones
Has performed fantastically in the run of wins, and has completely out-played the higher earning Rob Sidoli. His consistancy has been excellant, and once again he was putting in big hits, winning line-out ball, driving well in the mauls and even making the hard yards in the loose. Great performance, hope to see him next season.