Cardiff Blues are still on course for a GUINNESS PRO12 top-six finish after they claimed a bonus-point 56-8 win against Bentton Treviso, with Rhys Patchell outstanding throughout. The Welsh region boast one of the best home records in the GUINNESS PRO12, and with two of their final four games at BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park and also three Welsh derby clashes just round the corner, it was always going to be make or break against the Italians. And Cardiff didn’t disappoint as they demolished Treviso and scored tries through Ellis Jenkins, Josh Navidi, Reynold Lee-Lo, Kristian Dacey, Manoa Vosawai, Tom James, Dan Fish and Patchell. The PRO12’s leading point scorer, Patchell, may have been relegated into the full-back position and had the kicking duties removed following the return of Gareth Anscombe but he still bossed the game at second or third receiver. Cardiff boss Danny Wilson picked three openside flankers in his back row, including Welsh skipper Sam Warburton, as he looked to run the Italian side ragged. The first half didn’t go according to plan as Treviso pulled Cardiff into a set-piece dominated game, while the likes of Warburton and Lloyd Williams also wasting gilt-edged scoring opportunities. The home side did score two first half tries, first Jenkins burrowed his way over after only seven minutes, with Anscombe adding the extras, before Navidi went over on 32 minutes to reward Cardiff dominance. Anscombe converted Navidi’s score and also added a penalty as Cardiff led 17-3 at the break, with Jayden Hayward slotting a sole kick for Treviso. The form book certainly made good reading for the Blues, who have only ever lost once at home to an Italian opponent and just two minutes into the second half they made sure that unwanted statistic would not be repeated. Lee-Lo forced his way over out wide to give Cardiff their third score of the night; unfortunately Anscombe was unable to add the extras this time around. And it got worse for Treviso on 54 minutes as Dacey, with the help of skipper Gethin Jenkins burrowed over from close range for his side’s fourth score of the night. Marco Lazzaroni ensured it wasn’t a wasted trip to Wales for Treviso on the hour mark as the patience of the Italian side was rewarded with the flanker touching down in the corner – Hayward missed the conversion. Anscombe extended Cardiff’s lead to 30-3 on 64 minutes as Treviso were penalised for taking out a Blues’ chaser straight from the restart. Cardiff thought they had scored their fifth try of the night on 68 minutes; a brilliant kick and chase from Anscombe saw the fly-half offload to Vosawai but the replacement dropped the ball over the line under pressure. But it didn’t take long for Vosawai to get his try as the giant replacement powered over the Treviso line off the back of a driving maul to score Cardiff’s fifth try of the night, with Anscombe adding the extras to extend the lead to 37-8. Treviso now looked a spent force and with five minutes remaining the Blues added their sixth score of the night as James dotted down after a clever Patchell score had created the opportunity. Next to go over for Cardiff was wing Dan Fish; following a quick tap penalty he ran in unopposed from the halfway line against a tiring Treviso defence. And it was fitting the final score of the night was scored by Patchell as Cardiff went through the hands and ran in their eighth score of the night from distance. To buy tickets for the GUINNESS PRO12 Grand Final click here. Also follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to our YouTube channel for extensive match highlights and sign up for our newsletter for regular updates on the GUINNESS PRO12.
