Blues outplay Ospreys at Arms Park

Cardiff Blues won their eighth successive Magners League game in the Arms Park today. They met Ospreys, who were a point ahead of the Blues before the match.

FT: Cardiff Blues 30 Ospreys 24

Ben Blair finished with 25 points and his team with 13 men as the Blues outplayed the Ospreys in front of a capacity crowd at a freezing Cardiff Arms Park.

The gloss of a much-needed victory was tarnished when Wales flanker Martyn Williams was red-carded in injury time for an alleged head-butt on Ospreys scrum-half Jason Spice.

The game had long been won by the Blues as they started at a break-neck speed, racing into a 14-point lead within 10 minutes.

Blair and Gavin Henson exchanged penalties before the Ospreys were made to pay for their own mistakes.

A long pass by Justin Marshall was intercepted by Nick Robinson on halfway and he raced to the posts for a try that Blair easily converted.

The New Zealander then finished off clever passing by the Robinson brothers Nick and Jamie for another converted try.

The Ospreys were failing to bring any shape to their game and were not helped by a struggling Henson who fluffed two attempted drop goals.

He eventually succeeded with a couple of penalties before the interval but by then Blair had struck again with another seven-pointer as he blocked a Shane Williams kick and ran 60 metres unopposed for the Blues' third try.

The second half was more even with the Ospreys scoring two tries through Filo Tiatia and Ian Evans with Henson converting once.

At the death, Blues scrum-half Mike Phillips was sin-binned for dangerous play only to be followed by team-mate Williams for his rush of blood.

Cardiff Blues: 15. Nick Macleod 14. Ben Blair 13. Jamie Robinson 12. Tom Shanklin 11. Chris Czekaj 10. Nick Robinson 9. Mike Phillips 1. Gethin Jenkins 2. Rhys Thomas 3. Gary Powell 4. Bradley Davies 5. Deiniol Jones 6. Scott Morgan 7. Martyn Williams 8. Xavier Rush

Replacements: 16. Taufa'ao Filise 17. Gareth Williams 18. Ben White 19. Rhys Shellard 20. Ed Fairhurst 21. Dai Flanagan 22. Dafydd Hewitt

Ospreys: 15. Stefan Terblanche 14. Nikki Walker 13. Sonny Parker 12. Andrew Bishop 11. Shane Williams 10. Gavin Henson 9. Justin Marshall 1. Paul James 2. Barry Williams 3. Adam Jones 4. Brent Cockbain 5. Ian Evans 6. Alun Wyn Jones 7. Ryan Jones 8. Filo Tiatia

Replacements: 16. Ed Shervington 17. Cai Griffiths 18. Andy Lloyd 19. Richie Pugh 20. Jason Spice 21. James Hook 22. Lee Byrne