Cardiff give Connacht the Blues

Connacht 18 Cardiff 21

Cardiff made it four defeats from four matches for Irish sides in this weekend’s Celtic League fixtures as they saw off Connacht at Dubarry Park for their first away win of the season.

The Blues moved up to seventh in the league table and leapfrogged the Neath-Swansea Ospreys in the race for Wales’ last spot in next season’s Heineken Cup.

They were 13-3 up at the break thanks to a try inside the first quarter from left wing Craig Morgan and the points looked theirs at 18-6 on the hour mark but two late tries from Connacht replacements Adrian Clarke and Mike McCarthy almost saw the Irish side come from behind.

Former Wales Under-21 Nick Robinson certainly likes playing the men in green having put 18 points on the Irishmen in their September Arms Park visit and he chalked up a second-minute penalty to set the Blues on their way.

Wales squad member Morgan, returning after damaging his shoulder in RBS 6 Nations training, stepped in between Connacht centre Darren Yapp and full-back Mark McHugh to intercept on 16 minutes and sprint over from 30 metres out for his first league try of the season.

Connacht answered back with an Eric Elwood penalty in front of the uprights five minutes later cancelling out Robinson’s second penalty and were unlucky not to end the opening half with a try as South African hooker Marnus Uijs and back-row Matt Lacey were both mauled over the Cardiff line late on, but Scottish referee Mike Hall ruled both drives out.

Matters worsened for the home side as a wonderfully-timed dash by scrum-half Ryan Powell four minutes after the restart from 40 metres out saw outside-half Robinson collect the offload and touch down out wide for an 18-3 lead.

Elwood thumped over his second penalty but crucially failed to add the extras to Clarke’s try, hitting the post. McHugh also hit an upright with a penalty effort, four minutes after Robinson had stretched Cardiff’s lead to 21-11 on 72 minutes. McCarthy lunged over late on for a bonus point, with Elwood converting, but Cardiff held out.