Martyn Williams saved the day for Cardiff Blues as they grabbed a 34-18 bonus-point win over English rivals Bristol in the Heineken Cup. Man of the match Williams scored a late brace of tries as the Blues came from behind to kick start their Pool 3 campaign.
In a tight Anglo-Welsh European battle at the Arms Park, Bristol started brightly and their fierce forward applied the early pressure in the Blues 22.
The Guinness Premiership outfit’s early dominance was rewarded when fly half Jason Strange slotted home a penalty on 12 minutes before Ben Blair levelled the scores just six minutes later.
However, Bristol were getting the upper hand and their territory and possession was rewarded when David Hill scored the first try of the match on 21 minutes.
Wing Tom Arscott’s chip over the top caught Wales centre Jamie Robinson off balance as he palmed the ball into the path of Bristol fullback Hill to score under the posts with ease.
Strange extended the visitors’ lead to 13-3 before Robinson atoned for his earlier error on the stroke of half-time after he capitalised on Dai Flanagan’s delightful grubber kick through to put the hosts back into this fiery contest.
Blair added the extras to reduce the deficit to just three points going into the break. The Kiwi fullback then levelled the tie with his second penalty on 51 minutes before the turning point of the afternoon came on the hour mark when Bristol prop Darren Crompton was sin-binned for a high tackle on Tom Shanklin.
And the Magners League leaders took full advantage with the extra man and romped home thanks to well-worked tries by Maama Molitka and Williams’s double before Arscott grabbed a late consolation for Bristol.
Williams said: “We played some good rugby in the first half but the final pass wasn’t going to hand. We knew if we could keep the ball we would score tries and that was the case in the second half. Obviously, the yellow card was a big turning point for us but we managed to finish them off.”
Click Here for a statistical match report for the Heineken Cup match between the Cardiff Blues and Bristol Rugby
