A debut try from Joaquin Tuculet helped Cardiff Blues overcome a resilient Treviso side still looking for a first GUINNESS PRO12 win.

Despite tries from Lloyd Williams and Tuculet, 13 points from fly-half Joe Carlisle gave Treviso a one-point lead at half-time.

Richard Smith and Kristian Dacey went over early in the second period to ease Cardiff concerns before a Francesco Minto double brought the visitors right back into the game.

However, Rory Watts-Jones made it 36-25 to wrap up a second league win of the season for the Blues, late on.

The Italian side may be winless so far this year in the GUINNESS PRO12 but if they continue to play as they did in the first half in Cardiff, a first victory should be just around the corner.

An eighth minute break from the visitors was cynically ended by Macauley Cook as the Blues flanker deliberately knocked the ball forward, earning a yellow card for his troubles.

Carlisle made no mistake from the tee but the 14 men soon earned themselves a lead.

After 16 phases during which they moved progressively closer to the Treviso try-line, scrum-half Williams darted through, selling the defence a beautiful dummy before stretching out to touch down.

Gareth Anscombe nailed the conversion to make the score 7-3 to the home side with 11 minutes gone.

But just after the 20 minute mark, the Italians retook the lead when Carlisle produced a clever kick over the Blues backline and gave chase.

An unfortunate bounce left Tuculet for dead and the Treviso No.10 gathered cleanly and strolled over the whitewash.

The Englishman converted his own try but that lead lasted for just six minutes.

Cardiff worked the ball wide to Tuculet and the Argentine full-back used his power to squeeze over in the corner although Anscombe failed to convert.

And Carlisle then slotted a penalty just before the break to give the Italians a 13-12 half-time lead.

An early second-half penalty from substitute Gareth Davies gave the home side a one-point lead before Smith earned them some breathing space on 51 minutes.

Gavin Evans freed his hands to offload the ball to the onrushing winger who has the simple task of dotting down – Davies’ conversion making it 22-13.

Dacey wrapped up the bonus point and appeared to kill the game off after 57 minutes – a neat inside pass allowing him to burst through and touch down, Davies adding the extras.

But the Italians refused go down quietly, the Blues defence falling asleep to allow replacement Minto to glide through and go over with Carlisle’s conversion narrowing the gap to nine points.

And the scrum-cap wearing flanker grabbed himself a second score with just over ten minutes to go as he marshalled a Treviso driving maul over the line but Carlisle missed the conversion.

Hooker Davide Giazzon was sin-binned on 70 minutes and Watts-Jones finally sealed the win for the Blues just a minute later.

Cardiff set up a driving maul and the flanker finished the move – Davies’ kick making it 36-25 which was the scoreline when the final whistle blew.

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