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Cardiff Blues book Challenge Cup final berth
By Rob Lancaster
Cardiff Blues set up a showdown with Gloucester in the European Challenge Cup final after the Welsh club overcame Pau 16-10 on Saturday.
Jarrod Evans kicked 11 points, including converting Gareth Anscombe's early try at a raucous Cardiff Arms Park, before the Blues held firm in the closing minutes to book a trip to Bilbao.
Conrad Smith touched down in the first half for Pau but the Top 14 side failed to muster a point after the break, despite extended periods of pressure.
Cardiff's reward is a clash with last year's runners-up Gloucester at San Mames Stadium on May 11.
Anscombe provided the finish after lock Seb Davies' break as the hosts caught Pau cold with a try inside the opening six minutes of the second semi-final.
However, the visitors responded impressively to the early setback. After Tom Taylor missed a penalty attempt, Julien Pierre's charge down of a clearing kick allowed team-mate Smith to seize on the loose ball and dive over the line.
Taylor added the extras and was also on target with a penalty before half-time, though his successful three-pointer was sandwiched in between a pair of penalties from the reliable Evans.
The game tightened up in the second half as Cardiff kept their opponents at bay.
Alex Cuthbert's crunching tackle on Watisoni Votu exemplified the defensive effort from Danny Wilson's side, albeit they were fortunate Pau failed with a penalty that would have drawn them level.
Evans, in contrast, made no mistake following a high tackle in the 72nd minute, with the Blues then withstanding some late pressure to retain their six-point lead through to the final whistle.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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