Blues batter hapless Aironi

Cardiff Blues 38 Aironi 0

CARDIFF BLUES put a poor first half behind them to crush bottom club Aironi and move into third place in the RaboDirect Pro12.

Two penalties from fly-half Dan Parks gave the home side an early cushion, but the Welsh region could manage only two further Parks kicks before the break.

Aironi made a disastrous start to the second period. Samoan centre Sinoti Sinoti was yellow carded for a high tackle on Gavin Evans and Cardiff punished them, replacement centre Casey Laulala darting in for an unconverted try.

The Italians stepped up their efforts but fly-half Naas Olivier was wide with two kickable penalties.

The Blues grabbed a second touchdown when Richard Mustoe and Tom James ran a kick from their own half and centre Dafydd Hewitt tore through to score.

Stand-in full-back James then raced over for the Blues’ third try. Parks converted both.

And the bonus point quickly followed, replacement hooker Marc Breeze driving over with virtually his first touch. Another substitute, Ceri Sweeney, added the extras.

Scorers for Cardiff Blues: Tries: Laulala, Hewitt, James, Breeze. Cons: Parks 2, Sweeney. Pens: Parks 4.

CARDIFF BLUES: Czekaj, Mustoe, Evans, Hewitt, James, Parks, Rees, Yapp, T Thomas, Filise, Cook, Tito, Paterson, Navidi, Molitika.

Replacements: Laulala for Czekaj (38), Sweeney for Parks (66), L Jones for Rees (68), Trevett for Yapp (55), Breeze for T Thomas (65), Hobbs for Filise (60), Screech for Tito (66).

AIRONI: Trevisan, Toniolatti, Sinoti, Pavan, Venditti, Olivier, Tebaldi, De Marchi, D’Apice, Staibano, Geldenhuys, Biagi, Cattina, Ferrarini, Sole. Replacements: Quartaroli for Trevisan (74), Pratichetti for G. Pavan (67), Keats for Olivier (60), Perugini for A. De Marchi (60), Ongaro for D’Apice (55), Romano for Staibano (60), Furno for Biagi (53).

Referee: L Colgan (IRFU).