The veteran fly-half burst through some weak tackling to cross under the posts for a late converted try as the Blues recorded their first win in seven games.
Young was returning to take on his former side but it was Blues’ Director of Rugby Phil Davies who left the happier, reserving special praise for his match winner.
“We have still got some things to work on but the character of the players has been commendable,” he said.
“Ceri is a fantastic professional, I’m really pleased for him and he’s played an important role in the last few weeks.”
In a drab first-half, tries from the respective full-backs were the only highlights, Cardiff’s Dan Fish and Wasps’ Elliot Daly producing scintillating breaks to cross for their sides.
And second-half scores from winger Sweeney and wing Tom James saw the Blues get back to winning ways.
On a wet, windy evening, both sides were guilty of poor kicking as they struggled to retain possession in the opening exchanges.
Wasps had the first chance to get points on the board but fly-half Tommy Bell saw the wind take his long range penalty wide of the right hand upright. With the forwards dominating the opening exchanges, neither set of backs had been involved. But that soon changed when Fish gave the Blues the lead. With little else on, the full-back showed a neat step and a good turn of foot to cruise in from 40 metres. Gareth Davies converted to give the Blues a 7-0 lead.
If the Blues had shown the only glimpse of attacking threat, it mattered for little as their lead was almost immediately pegged back to a single point. Wasps made the most of their territory, Bell succeeding with his next two penalty attempts to get his side back into things.
Davies missed a chance to extend the Blues lead and his side then fell behind to an almost exact replica of the first try of the game. Fish’s opposite number Daly left the Blues’ defence for dead and although Cardiff’s full-back covered to tackle, Daly’s dive and momentum took him to the try line. Bell missed the conversion but added a penalty with the last kick of the half to give Wasps a 14-7 lead at the interval.
As the Arms Park pitch continued to cut up as the game progressed, both sides struggled with their attacking game. Davies slotted an early second-half penalty to narrow the Blues’ deficit to four points but the game continued to be dominated by the boot.
With scoring chances few and far between, Davies’ miss from another kickable penalty was the final score for the Blues Director of Rugby who introduced Ceri Sweeney in his place. The veteran outside-half made little immediate impact though as Bell added another penalty from 40 metres.
The Blues soon hit back though. Robin Copeland was the architect, his powerful burst laying a platform from which wing Tom James capitalised. From Copeland’s initial carry, the ball was spread left to Fish. With James outside him, Fish drew in his defender to send the winger over in the corner. Sweeney missed the conversion but the Blues trailed by just two points going into the final 15 minutes.
And they made the most of the momentum, Sweeney crossing for the winning try with just under 10 minutes left.
