Home triumph for Blues

Cardiff Blues took advantage of Ulster's poor away form to land a 19-9 home victory in Magners League action on Friday night.

Ulster's indiscipline proved particularly costly, with the only try of the game scored when the Irish side were down to 13 men.

Cardiff's triumph meant New Zealander Xavier Rush was able to celebrate his 100th Blues appearance in style before he joins Ulster next season.

The first half was a turgid affair, scattered with aimless kicking and handling errors to generate little excitement for the sparse crowd.

Blues full-back Ben Blair and Ulster fly-half Niall O'Connor exchanged penalties early on while also missing one apiece.

Ulster dominated territory due to their strength at scrum and breakdown, but it was Blues centres Casey Laulala and Tom Shanklin that produced the only real breaks, before Shanklin sustained a knock after the first half an hour and was forced to leave the pitch.

The home side's greater ambition paid off late in the first half as Blair added two more penalties just before half-time.

Attack

Cardiff stepped up a gear on the restart, with prop Taufa'ao Filise leading the attack, but it was the Irish side that drew the first blood in the second period as O'Connor landed a superb penalty from the halfway line.

The boot continued to dominate as Leigh Halfpenny fell short of another long-distance attempt, while Blair hit a post from long range after Ulster lock Ryan Caldwell was sin-binned for handling in the ruck.

Ulster then had a second player yellow-carded as a blatant trip in midfield saw centre Darren Cave sent to the bin.

The punishment cost Ulster dearly as Blair sent the resultant penalty to the corner and replacement flanker Maama Molitika powered over from the line-out, with Blair adding the extras.

Molitika tried again for Blues as they attempted to capitalise on the reduced Irish side, but it was Ulster that managed to score as O'Connor kicked over another long-distance effort.

Blair booted his fourth penalty of the night just as Ulster returned to full strength to wrap up a stuttering win for the Welsh side.