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Cardiff Blues 46 Border Reivers 11

15th April 2006


Cardiff Blues clinched a bonus point win against Border Reivers and moved up to fourth place in the Celtic League table.

Cardiff Blues hoped to build on theIr last three games having won convincingly against the Ospreys, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The Blues were dealt a blow in the first ten minutes when Andy Powell had to leave the field with a broken thumb and replaced by Robin Sowden-Taylor.

The home team started strongly dominating the territory and possession with Nicky Robinson kicking two penalties. On the half hour mark Cardiff Blues broke away with a strong run from Mike Phillips who passed to Kort Schubert, the big back row forward then passed inside to Jamie Robinson who had taken a great angle to receive the pass and race over from 40 yards out to score with younger brother Nicky converting the try.

Border Reivers soon struck back when they looked dangerous for the first time in the match and working the ball well from right to left saw Ben MacDougal cross over in the corner to bring the half time score to 13-5.

HALF TIME
Cardiff Blues 13 Border Reivers 5

Cardiff Blues soon struck back when Jamie Robinson scored under the posts for his second try of the match converted by Nicky Robinson. The score seemed to revitalise the home side and they soon built on their lead when Marc Stcherbina came on the scissors from Nicky Robinson to score under the posts.

The Blues were dominating the game now and the bonus point try soon came when excellent driving from the forwards saw replacement hooker Rhys Thomas emerge with the ball. Nick Macleod had come on the field as replacement for Nicky Robinson and he was soon also on the scoreboard when he picked up the ball on the half way line and sprint unopposed to score the home side’s fifth try of the game.

Jonah Lomu had been having his best match for the Blues with some powerful running and looked more like his old self. An excellent break by Craig Morgan saw him pass to the giant winger and despite being tackled just short of the line an injuring himself he managed to offload to Mark Lewis who scored in the corner, excellently converted by MacLeod.

There was huge round of applause from the crowd as Jonah was helped off the field and it was later confirmed that the New Zealand legend had not broken his ankle and the damage was limited to the ligaments. Jonah will undergo further examination over the next few days to determine the full extent of the injury.