A depleted Glasgow Warriors were comprehensively swept aside by Cardiff Blues this afternoon as the hosts cruised to a four try bonus point win at the Cardiff City Stadium.
With 13 players unavailable for selection due to injury and international duty, Glasgow’s depth was exposed when matched against the relative strength of the opposition.
Cardiff’s tries came from Dan Fish, Ceri Sweeney, Michael Paterson and Richard Mustoe with Sweeney recording a 23-point individual haul. The Warriors could only muster two penalties from stand-off Colin Gregor.
The Blues opened the scoring through the boot of stand-off Sweeney as Glasgow’s defence was caught offside.
His opposite man, Warriors’ Colin Gregor, levelled the score five minutes later before Cardiff fullback Dan Fish grabbed the first try.
The Warriors’ indiscipline inside their own 22 cost them dear as Cardiff opted for a lineout just metres from the line. The ball was then spun wide where Fish was left with a simple dot down in the corner. Sweeney missed the conversion.
Gregor kept Glasgow in the game with his second penalty before Sweeney extended Cardiff’s lead with two further shots at goal.
Half-time score: Blues 14-6 Warriors
Only eight points adrift at the break, Glasgow still had plenty chance to get a grip of the match, but it never came as Sweeney added a try and a conversion to his three first half penalties.
Glasgow seemed to lack ideas in attack, or perhaps suffered from trying to do too much, as they tangled themselves up and were eventually penalised for not releasing on the deck. Cardiff then cleared any threat Glasgow had posed.
With time running out for the Warriors to get a handle on the game, head coach Sean Lineen and his coaching team rung the changes.
Despite the refresh of personnel, Sweeney grabbed his fourth penalty to stretch Cardiff’s lead by a further three points.
Glasgow’s tackling had never been particularly strong, but it became weaker as fatigue took its toll in the closing stages.
Winger Chris Czekaj broke clear and ran about 60 yards where he handed the ball to lock Michael Paterson for the Blues’ third try. Sweeney converted.
The bonus point was next on Cardiff’s shopping list and Richard Mustoe seized the initiative as he bulldozed through numerous tacklers to crash over. Sweeney converted to signal the end of a very tough afternoon at the office.
Cardiff Blues: Dan Fish; Richard Mustoe, Casey Laulala, Dafydd Hewitt, Chris Czekaj; Ceri Sweeney, Tom Slater; Taufa'ao Filise, T Rhys Thomas, Scott Andrews, Michael Paterson, Paul Tito CAPTAIN, Andries Pretorius, Maama Molitika, Xavier Rush
Substitutes: Gareth Williams, Tom Davies, Sam Hobbs, Bryn Griffiths, Ben White, Tom Rowlands, Owen Williams, Gavin Evans
Glasgow Warriors: Bernardo Stortoni; Hefin O’Hare, Federico Aramburu, Peter Murchie, Colin Shaw; Colin Gregor, Henry Pyrgos; Jon Welsh, Fergus Thomson, Ed Kalman, Aly Muldowney, Alastair Kellock CAPTAIN, Robert Harley, Calum Forrester, Ryan Wilson

This article was originally posted on 27-Nov-2010, 15:19 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 28-Nov-2010, 10:45.