Cardiff Blues 35-17 Ulster: Five wins on the bounce for Blues
By Emma Thurston
Last Updated: 25/03/18 11:13am
Cardiff Blues recorded their fifth successive Guinness PRO14 victory with a 35-17 defeat of Ulster at Cardiff Arms Park.
Tries from Jarrod Evans and Blaine Scully, both converted by fly-half Evans, helped push the hosts into a 17-6 lead at the interval, with John Cooney replying with two penalties for the visitors.
Cooney started the second half with two further penalties before the Blues recorded their third try of the game through Kristian Dacey. Evans' brace of penalties plumped their cushion further to 28-12.
Ulster's first try of the game was scored with only a minute to play and the Blues went in search of the bonus point with the time in red.
They secured the final restart and man-of-the-match Evans put Dillon Lewis in for what could prove to be a crucial additional point.
The result means that the Welsh region keep the pressure on the Cheetahs above them in Conference A.
The South African outfit, who also won this weekend, are now just five points ahead with three rounds of the regular season to go and the two sides meet next in the league.
For Ulster, it dampens their chances to qualify for the European Rugby Champions Cup next season and they must regroup ahead of their next match against Edinburgh.
In a week when they announced that John Mulvihill would be their new head coach from next season, the Blues set out their stall and started the game at a blistering pace.
With just two minutes on the clock, Evans opened the scoring for the home side and they progressed from there.
Ellis Jenkins' deft ball to Evans gave the fly-half the opportunity to step around the final defenders and he duly converted his own try.
Ulster's response arrived soon enough though, four minutes later Cooney fired over this first penalty after Nick Williams was penalised for not releasing in the tackle.
The home side would strike again before the end of the first quarter through USA captain, Scully. The 30-year-old also showcased excellent footwork to finish the five-pointer after some high quality offloading.
Willis Halaholo broke the line down the right and found the ever-enigmatic Matthew Morgan.
Morgan offloaded to Tomos Williams before the scrum-half delivered a rapid overhead pass to his winger, who did the rest. Evans secured his second conversion.
At the start of the second quarter, Ulster had an opportunity to put three points on the board. They chose to kick for the corner and left a rare foray into the red zone with nothing.
After 27 minutes there could have been a key turning point in the encounter however the card handed to Wiehahn Herbst was yellow in colour as opposed to red.
The tighthead prop's messy attempt to clear-out Evans saw his arm make contact above the shoulder line of the fly-half.
On review with the TMO, the referee Mike Adamson concluded that Herbst had not used a 'swinging arm' and instead the action was just part of the clear out and a yellow was given instead of red.
Ulster managed the sin-bin period well but looked to have conceded in the final moments of it.
Williams, who was having an influential game in the half-backs, thought that he had scored the Blues' third after being put into space by Halaholo.
However, as the conversion was lined up the TMO interjected and scratched it off due to a forward pass in the build-up.
Cooney's second penalty cut the Blues' lead to eight points before Evans finished the half with three of his own to make it 17-6.
Ulster started the second half with greater purpose. After turning down another kickable penalty, they then decided to make use of Cooney's accurate boot.
The scrum-half's two successful kicks at goal narrowed their deficit to 12-17 however the Blues' response came in the form of their third try of the encounter.
Evans attacked the line with real purpose, and like so many of his teammates during the afternoon, got a pinpoint offload away.
The fly-half's pop found Dacey on his shoulder and the replacement prop used his considerable power to score.
After another pair of penalties from Evans to make it 28-12, Ulster showed their resilience in the final ten minutes. The visitors challenged the line and in the final minute David Shanahan crossed.
With time left for the restart, the Blues secured the ball and set about securing their bonus-point score. They built with composure before, man of the match Evans, put Lewis in.
