Blues up to third

The home side started well when Rhys Shellard sprinted over for the first try of the match after just four minutes. Kiwi Ben Blair stepped up to kick the conversion. Border’s outside half Calum MacRae slotted a penalty immediately from the restart yet the Blues dominated the earlier play and made it clear from the start they wanted to attack the visitors in their own half.

Yet the Borders were also capable of flowing rugby themselves. They moved up-field from a scrum and a wild pass in defence by the Blues saw Simon Danielli pounce on the loose ball and crash over in the corner to give the Scotsman the lead.

However, this score served to spur on the Blues and Tom James showed his pace with a great dart on the left hand side and he won a penalty that Blair converted to restore the lead.

The Blues never looked back from this point on. They had a great start to the second half with some powerful running from No.8 Xavier Rush. It wasn’t long before the big Kiwi had smashed through the Border’s defence in their own twenty-two and powered over for a try under the posts. Fellow Kiwi Blair converted.

Soon after, Scott Morgan carried four defenders over the line to score the third try of the match for the Blues. With momentum and slick hands of Gethin Jenkins, Rush and Nick Robinson, the ball was passed out wide to Czekaj. The Cardiff wing out-sprinted the defence and put in a perfectly timed pass for Jamie Robinson to cross for the fourth try to secure the bonus point. The Blues were 29-8 up after fifty-three minutes.

The Scots did threaten on occasion and were rewarded for their endeavours when Garry Law chipped ahead and touched down with MacRae adding the conversion.

The final stages of the match saw Shellard cross for his second try of the match with Blair converting. The Blues had gained another bonus point win for the second time in a fortnight.