Magners League - Cardiff 29 Treviso 9:Cardiff Blues moved up to third in the Magners League and ahead of Ulster with tonight's 29-9 win over Italian side Treviso at Cardiff City Stadium.
The win moves the Blues moved closer to a play-off place thanks to a penalty try and another score by number eight Xavier Rush, plus 19 points from outhalf Dan Parks.
A bonus-point victory with a winning a margin of at least 18 would have seen the Blues leapfrog Leinster into second place. But a resilient Treviso, who defended stoutly throughout, denied them the four tries they needed and the Italian side were rewarded with three penalties from outhalf Willem De Waal.
De Waal opened the scoring early on with a penalty before Parks levelled for Cardiff with one of his own. The hosts' stand-off then converted two more opportunities to take the score out to 9-3 after 10 minutes.
However, the Blues were lethargic throughout the first period and a mistake by Martyn Williams allowed De Waal to reduce the arrears. Italian international flanker Alessandro Zanni was then sin-binned for the visitors and Parks kicked the resultant penalty.
Down to 14 men and under pressure at the scrum, substitute prop Michele Rizzo was also yellow-carded to leave Treviso briefly with 13 men on the field. And Cardiff took advantage when referee Neil Paterson awarded a penalty try, before De Waal scored another penalty to leave Cardiff 19-9 up at the break.
The Blues looked to increase the tempo in the second half and were duly rewarded when Parks slotted his fifth penalty after 51 minutes.
Rush went over from a driving maul late on and substitute Robert Barbieri became the third Treviso player to be sin-binned to help ease Cardiff to victory, but the hosts could not force any more tries.
Cardiff Blues:Chris Czekaj, Leigh Halfpenny, Casey Laulala, Jamie Roberts, Tom James, Dan Parks, Richie Rees, John Yapp, Gareth Williams, Tau Filise, Bradley Davies, Paul Tito, Ma'ama Molitika, Martyn Williams, Xavier Rush. Replacements: Rhys Williams, Sam Hobbs, Scott Andrews, Deiniol Jones, Mike Paterson, Lloyd Williams, Ceri Sweeney, Dafydd Hewitt
Benetton Treviso:Joe Maddock, Tommaso Benvenuti, Ezio Galon, Alberto Sgarbi, Ludovico Nitoglia, Willem de Waal, Fabio Semenzato, Augusto Allori, Leonardo Ghiraldini, Lorenzo Cittadini, Francesco Minto, Valerio Bernabo', Manoa Vosawai, Alessandro Zanni, Paul Derbyshire. Replacements: Franco Sbaraglini, Michele Rizzo, Ignacio Fernandez-Rouyet, Bian Vermaak, Robert Barbieri, Simon Picone, Andy Vilk, Luke McLean
