Glasgow Warriors’ six-match unbeaten run in the Magners League came to a shuddering halt as the Cardiff Blues, aided by a burst of three converted tries after the break, got the better of the table toppers at Firhill Arena. Glasgow Warriors suffered their first league defeat since September as Cardiff put them to the sword to record their first win on Glasgow soil since 2005. Full-back Ben Blair won the place-kicking battle in the first half, punting the Blues 9-0 ahead before they added three converted tries before the hour mark, through scrum half Gareth Cooper, centre Casey Laulala and winger Tom James. 30-0 down, Glasgow grabbed a late consolation try from centre Max Evans who dedicated the score to his brother, Warriors and Scotland winger Thom, who suffered a serious neck injury in last weekend’s Six Nations loss to Wales. The result served as a wake-up call to a buoyant Glasgow side that had won their last four games at Firhill. Speaking afterwards, their coach Sean Lineen said: "We were architects of the result. We got a little bit carried away playing in certain areas. "We didn’t convert some great passages of play into points. But most of all we didn’t control or respect the ball well enough and that was our downfall." Both sides lined out without some notable names. Thom Evans, Chris Cusiter, Dan Parks, team captain Alastair Kellock and back rowers Kelly Brown, John Barclay and Johnnie Beattie were missing from the Glasgow line-up. Cardiff were without the injured Gavin Evans, Richard Mustoe, Gareth Thomas and Robin Sowden Taylor. Blus boss Dai Young was able to welcome back Tom Shanklin, Deiniol Jones and try scorers Cooper and James from Wales duty. Glasgow had scrum half Mark McMillan as their stand-in captain, with number 8 Richie Vernon back from a spell out with glandular fever and openside flanker Chris Fusaro making his first start for the club. The Warriors looked sharp in the opening stages, forwards Moray Low and James Eddie part of a combative pack, but home out-half Ruaridh Jackson missed two long range penalty attempts. It was left to New Zealander Blair to open the scoring, courtesy of a 13th minute penalty, and with Ma’ama Molitika, Xavier Rush and Laulala getting on the ball, a Glasgow offside allowed Blair double the visitors’ lead. Jackson missed the target from closer in, when presented with a third penalty chance, and the more experienced Blues continued to have the better of open play. Danger man Laulala got a chance to stretch his legs, however he lacked support at a crucial time, as Glasgow’s Bernardo Stortoni closed him down. The Welsh region, with Ceri Sweeney increasingly influential at number 10, managed to hold onto possession and skipper Paul Tito went close to breaking the try deadlock as play was spread out to the right. Another offside decision, which saw Glasgow winger Hefin O’Hare sent to the sin-bin, allowed Blair smack over his third penalty and move the Blues 9-0 ahead for half-time. The second half was barely a minute old when wily scrum half Gareth Cooper broke left from a close range ruck to grab an opportunistic opening try for the Blues, which Blair converted. It got worse for Glasgow’s shaky defence on 54 minutes. The home pack coughed up possession at a scrum and Cardiff, who were able to build through the phases, worked the ball out to the left for Laulala to dot down his first league try. Blair turned it into a seven-pointer and Cardiff were out of sight by the 60th minute, thanks to a fantastic individual try from the lightning-quick James. He oustripped four defenders and burst clear to collect the visitors’ third try, which Blair again converted. But despite enjoying a territorial dominance over the remaining minutes, Cardiff, who were ending a two-match losing run in the league, failed to annex a bonus point-clinching try. It was left to Max Evans to finish out the scoring, with replacement Colin Gregor landing the conversion with the final kick of a disappointingly one-sided game.
