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Wilson delighted by big European opener

15th November 2015


Head Coach Danny Wilson declared it a job well done as Cardiff Blues opened the new European campaign with a record-breaking away win over Rugby Calvisano in Italy.

First half tries from Lloyd Williams and Tom James put Cardiff Blues on their way at the Peroni Stadium before an emphatic second half try frenzy wrapped up maximum points.

Man-of-the-match Ellis Jenkins, Dan Fish, Blaine Scully, Gavin Evans and a last minute penalty try saw Wilson’s men secure a biggest away European triumph.

It was a result that took them to the top of the pool standings after the opening round of games to the delight of boss Wilson.

He said: “I’m very pleased with the result. I thought we were dominant, but credit to Calvisano because they defended on their own line for long periods and the game was relatively tight at half-time.

“If we played with some tempo and wore them out then we felt we would have the superior fitness; perhaps we showed that by scoring some good tries late in the game.

“It went to game plan and to score 50 points away from home you have got to be happy.

“More importantly for Cardiff Blues, we didn’t concede a try and to hold them to nine points was good. We now have to build on that for future performances.

“It’s nice to win, that is a definite, but more importantly we focused on what we needed to improve on.

“We saw that because our defence was better and we scored some good tries from all departments – we had a mix of everything.

“That kind of performance should give us some confidence to take into what is an extremely tough fixture in a short turnaround against Harlequins.”

Wilson was also quick to praise the travelling army of fans from Cardiff Blues who helped create a big atmosphere at the Peroni Stadium.

“It was fantastic to see so many fans come over to support us and wearing the European jersey for #StayStrongForOws too,” he added.

“They got right behind the team and certainly made themselves heard. Credit to them and it would be great to now go back to BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park and back that result up with another big display for our fans.”