Griffin scored a try and added two penalties and a conversion as the home side ran out winners by eight points, a margin that should have perhaps been bigger given their dominance.
Winger Richard Smith and flanker Thomas Young also crossed as a bonus point victory proved just out of Cardiff’s reach.
Despite Martyn Fowler’s side dominating the majority of the game, it was Swansea who opened the scoring with a try from winger Richard Williams.
Picking up the ball near the halfway line, a try looked unlikely but Williams brushed off a number of poor Cardiff tackles to score in the corner. The conversion was missed but the visitors were off to a fast start.
Cardiff had struggled to gain a foothold in the early stages and it was scrum-half Alex Walker who got his side back into the game with a moment of magic. After Swansea were penalised inside the Cardiff half, Walker’s quick thinking saw him run clear of the defence with a quick tap penalty. When he was caught by the covering Whites’ tacklers, he simply offloaded to flanker Young who ran in under the posts. Joe Griffin added the conversion to give the home side the lead.
If it was an action-packed opening 10 minutes, the rest of the half was a largely scrappy affair with the game almost exclusively played between the two 10 metre lines. From a rare foray into the Swansea 22, Cardiff captain Shaun Powell dotted down in the corner but saw his score ruled out for a forward pass.
Despite the setback, Cardiff soon made amends. From a scrum inside the Swansea 22, a simple backs move saw Griffin spread the ball wide to wing Richard Smith who went over in the corner. Griffin missed the difficult conversion but Cardiff led 12-5.
And they extended their lead to 10 points by half-time, Griffin adding a penalty after Nicky Thomas had failed with an earlier effort for the visitors.
Cardiff emerged from the break looking to pull further clear and they did just that when Griffin added a try to his earlier kicks at goal. After the ball came loose in a ruck on halfway, the fly-half capitalised and showed an impressive turn of foot to score his side’s third try out of nothing.
Thomas narrowed the Swansea deficit with a penalty but it was Cardiff who were dominating with the away side’s backs struggling to make an impression on a physical home defence. And Cardiff should have been out of sight given the level of their dominance but the fourth try and a bonus point eluded them.
And when Swansea flanker Sam Lewis went over it made for a nervy final 10 minutes. A clean line break from centre Nick Harwood saw the ball recycled before Lewis eventually touched down. Thomas kicked the extras to narrow the gap to just eight points.
But Cardiff held on for what was a win their dominance deserved as they recorded their fourth successive victory.
