Clinical Cardiff down Dragons in PRO12
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 17/04/16 7:44pm
Cardiff Blues kept their European hopes alive with a comfortable 28-8 Guinness PRO12 win over Dragons at the Arms Park.
The 28-8 success leaves Blues eighth in the table but importantly, they have closed the gap on sixth-placed Edinburgh and seventh-placed Munster, to a single point with two games remaining.
Blues' tries came from Josh Turnbull, Ray Lee-Lo and Gareth Anscombe, with Anscombe kicking three penalties and two conversions.
Sarel Pretorius scored a try for Dragons with Dorian Jones adding a penalty.
Cardiff went ahead after seven minutes with a try from Turnbull after Ellis Jenkins charged down a clearance kick from Pretorius to give Blues a platform in the Dragons' 22.
Anscombe missed the conversion but he soon made amends with a simple penalty.
Dragons should have had their first score when they produced the best movement of the first quarter. Hallam Amos beat Dan Fish in the air to collect an up-and-under from Jones before sending Pretorius away into the home 22.
The visitors looked certain scorers but Amos hung onto the ball with two unmarked men outside him.
After 18 minutes, Dragons did get on the scoreboard when Sam Warburton was penalised for a shirt tug on Nic Cudd and Jones kicked the resulting penalty.
An excellent 40-metre burst from Pretorius split the Blues' defence but Amos was robbed of possession 10-metres from the try line and the home side were able to clear the danger.
There was little between the teams in the opening half-hour with some clever positional kicking from Anscombe offset by Dragons' superior attacking threat.
Anscombe extended his side's lead with a second penalty before Dragons again threatened. This time Amos beat three defenders in a superb gliding run but the movement fizzled out deep in the Blues 22.
However, after 32 minutes Dragons deservedly scored their first try when Pretorius finished off a driving line-out but they suffered two setbacks when Taulupe Faletau was led off with a facial injury before Pretorius was yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on.
Blues took immediate advantage by scoring their second try when Lee-Lo collected a clever chip through from Anscombe who converted for an 18-8 half-time lead.
Faletau returned after the interval but Blues lost scrum-half Lloyd Williams at half-time with an injury.
Pretorius returned from the sin-bin with no further damage to the scoreboard but a third penalty from Anscombe extended the home lead before Rhys Patchell limped off with a hamstring problem.
Anscombe's penalty and his last-minute try and conversion were the only scores of the second-half as spirited Dragons frustrated the home side's quest for a valuable bonus point.
