Parks boots Cardiff home

FLY-HALF Dan Parks kicked 14 points as Cardiff Blues made it two from two in the Heineken Cup with a scrappy win over 14-man London Irish at Cardiff City Stadium.

First-half tries from hooker Rhys Thomas and scrum-half Lloyd Williams laid the groundwork for an 18-9 half-time lead for the hosts, by which time the visitors were a man down after centre Steven Shingler saw red for a reckless spear tackle on opposite number Dafydd Hewitt.

Parks’ boot eventually sealed the hosts’ win with two second-half penalties.

The Blues made an assured start with a third-minute Parks penalty. Cardiff grabbed the opening try after six minutes by Thomas, the fly-half adding the extras for a 10-0 advantage.

The task facing the Exiles became even greater when centre Shingler was dismissed for his ugly spear tackle on Hewitt.

Homer registered Exiles first points with a 26th-minute penalty, but Parks cancelled out that score. Homer added two penalties for Irish but Cardiff responded with their second try from Williams which was unconverted

Parks and Homer traded further penalties. And when Cardiff again conceded a penalty at scrum time just past the hour mark, Homer struck again to bring them within losing bonus-point range.

The Blues’ responded the outnumbered visiting defence soon watching Parks slot his fourth three-pointer of the night.

Homer struck again with five minutes left to set up a tense finish as Irish made an unsuccessful late bid for an unlikely win, although they did at least leave with a merited bonus point.

Scorers: Cardiff Blues: Tries: T. Thomas, L. Williams. Cons: Parks. Pens: Parks 4.

London Irish: Pens: Homer 6.

CARDIFF BLUES: Czekaj, Cuthbert, Laulala, Hewitt, James, Parks, L. Williams, G. Jenkins, T. Thomas, Filise, B. Davies, Tito, Paterson, Warburton, Rush. Replacements: Andrews for Laulala (59), Rees for L. Williams (59), Breeze for T. Thomas (71), Molitika for Rush (21).

LONDON IRISH: Homer, Ojo, Ansbro, Shingler, Thompstone, Bowden, Samson, Dermody, Paice, Rautenbach, Kennedy, Garvey, Danaher, Thorpe, Sinclair. Replacements: Hodgson for Samson (60), Corbisiero for Dermody (56), Buckland for Paice (54), Ion for Rautenbach (41), Sandford for Garvey (61), Gibson for Thorpe (54).

Referee: Jerome Garces (France).