Blues douse Dragons' fire

Gavin Henson: centre of attention

Alex Cuthbert scored two tries to help Cardiff Blues to a 28-9 RaboDirect PRO12 victory over the Dragons at Cardiff City Stadium.

Wales midfielder Gavin Henson was the centre of attention as he made his debut, at full-back, for the hosts.

The Henson factor helped attract the season's highest crowd of 10,660 to Cardiff City Stadium on a freezing night and he turned in a steady if unspectacular display at the back.

A Blues' team containing regular stand-off Dan Parks has been criticised for not scoring enough tries. This time, Ceri Sweeney took the reins in the pivot role and they promptly crossed the whitewash twice in the opening period, through Cuthbert and Bradley Davies.

Although the Dragons responded with three penalties from Jason Tovey, Cuthbert's second touchdown and 13 points from the boot of Leigh Halfpenny sealed a Cardiff victory.

Newport-Gwent have endured a dreadful first half of the season in the RaboDirect Pro12, with the Rodney Parade-based outfit currently sitting in 11th place. And despite a tense start to this game, as both Tovey and Halfpenny missed early penalty opportunities, it started to go to the form book from the 20th minute onwards.

It was the winger, Cuthbert, who eventually opened the scoring when he scampered over, Halfpenny converting, before the same player extended that advantage with a three-pointer.

Tovey responded with one of his own, but a second touchdown from Davies eased the Blues into a comfortable half-time lead. The winger once again added the extras as Cardiff led 17-3 at the break.

Halfpenny and Tovey traded penalties at the start of the second half before the Dragons' fly-half added another to bring them to within 11 points.

Cardiff's three-quarter then kicked a further three-pointer before his superb break and off-load set up Cuthbert to confirm a comfortable win.