Blues cruise past Treviso
Cardiff clinched a second successive bonus-point victory with a comfortable 33-18 triumph over Benetton Treviso.
Last Updated: 11/09/11 7:32pm
Cardiff clinched a second successive bonus-point victory at the start of the new RaboDirect PRO12 season with a 33-18 triumph over Benetton Treviso.
Alex Cuthbert marked his debut with a try after just six minutes as the Welsh club as the Blues comfortably saw off their Italian opponents.
The winger, already a Wales Sevens representative, made an immediate impact by stretching out to reach the line and break the deadlock.
Treviso responded with a pair of drop goals from fly-half Kris Burton in between a penalty from the Blues' Gareth Davies, as the two No.10's became involved in a kicking battle at Cardiff City Stadium.
Tom James added a second try for the hosts, juggling Lewis Jones's final pass before running in beneath the posts to leave an easy conversion.
Record
It gave the winger a record 30th touchdown for the Blues, overtaking the tally of former favourite Jamie Robinson.
From then until the break, the teams traded penalties, Burton's four to a pair from Davies meaning Treviso only trailed 21-18 at the break.
Both sides also finished the half a man short, Blues lock Deiniol Jones and Treviso number eight Manoa Vosawai seeing yellow cards.
Cardiff moved further clear at the start of the second half, flanker Martyn Williams took a return pass from James to trot over.
Treviso rarely threatened the Blues line, but tall wing Benjamin de Jager was only stopped by a desperate ankle tap from the covering Gavin Evans.
The Blues kicked a stream of penalties to the corner in the hunt for a bonus point, but it was only after replacement Gonzalo Padro was sin-binned that Dafydd Hewitt darted over to complete a perfect afternoon.
