Falcons crushed in Cardiff

Mustoe: Try

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• Cardiff Blues

Players

• Ceri Sweeney
• Richard Mustoe

• More Players +

  • Alex Walker
  • Dai Flanagan
  • Rob Vickers
  • Sam Norton-Knight

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Cardiff Blues ran in six tries to move to the top of Pool 3 and inflict a third-straight LV=Cup defeat on Newcastle Falcons on Sunday.

Sam Norton Knight (two), Ma'ama Molitika, Richard Mustoe, Ceri Sweeney and Ben White all crossed for the Blues during their emphatic 45-24 win at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Newcastle hooker Alex Walker bagged a hat-trick of touchdowns and replacement Rob Vickers secured a bonus point with the fourth.

But the Blues, with 15 changes to their starting line-up from last week's Heineken Cup victory at Harlequins, were just too strong for the Falcons and cruised to a comfortable victory.

Rolling maul

Dai Flanagan opened the scoring with a penalty before Walker broke free from a rolling maul to crash over for the first try of the match.

The hosts reply came swiftly following a powerful drive from a line out that saw the Blues threatening again.

Allinson spread the ball wide via Flanagan to Tom Shanklin, who drew his man before putting Norton Knight in for a well-worked try.

Flanagan added the conversion and then added another penalty to take the score to 13-5.

But Newcastle hit back with a try almost identical to their first, Walker again barging over from a rolling maul following an attacking line-out.

This time Miller was on target with the conversion but so too was Flanagan with a penalty to take his side into half time with a 16-12 lead.

Ed Williamson was sent to the sin bin soon after the restart after he prevented Allinson from passing out from an offside position.

Cardiff made the most of their man advantage, Molitika bursting through to touch down and Flanagan adding two more points with the conversion to give the Blues a 23-12 lead.

The next try came courtesy of Mustoe, who crossed in the corner when the Blues spread the ball wide to Norton Knight after opting for a scrum instead of a penalty.

Fight

Newcastle continued to fight, though, and soon they were rewarded, Walker mirroring his earlier scores to peel off the maul and complete his treble.

Australian full-back Norton Knight extended the Blues' lead when he dived over in the corner following a perfectly judged pass from Dafydd Hewitt but Flanagan saw his touchline conversion come back off the post.

Replacement fly-half Sweeney was the next to cross after collecting an interception and racing 50 metres to the line before adding the conversion himself.

And substitute flanker White wrapped up the scoring when he shrugged off a series of tacklers to score in the corner.

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