Parks gives Edinburgh the boot

Editor

Cardiff Blues pivot Dan Parks kicked four penalties, two drop goals and a conversion to lead his team to a 25-8 win over Edinburgh.

Cardiff Blues pivot Dan Parks kicked four penalties, two drop goals and a conversion to lead his team to a 25-8 Heineken Cup win over Edinburgh at Cardiff City Stadium on Friday.

Parks claimed 20 of the Blues' points, with Alex Cuthbert crossing in the corner in the closing stages to ensure the hosts took sole possession of the top of Pool 2.

The visitors responded with a touchdown from winger Lee Jones and a Greg Laidlaw penalty, but they will need to emerge victorious from the corresponding fixture next week if they are to stand any chance of qualifying.

Both sides went into the game undefeated with Edinburgh topping the group thanks to their stunning 48-47 bonus-point victory over Racing Metro in the last round of fixtures.

And the opening period was unsurprisingly tight and tense with neither side managing to gain the upper hand over the opposition defence.

It was left to Parks to open the scoring, but Laidlaw responded with a penalty before the scrum-half failed to convert another opportunity.

In a half dominated by the boot, Cardiff's fly-half failed with his second drop-goal attempt, but made amends with a three-pointer with the last kick of the opening period.

Parks added another penalty after 46 minutes to extend their advantage to 9-3. The Scotland fly-half then continued his fine form with the boot with successive three-pointers.

Despite the hosts' initial dominance in the second half, Edinburgh refused to give in and they scored the first try of the game when Lee Jones scampered over.

Laidlaw missed the conversion and Parks kicked his second drop-goal, but Cuthbert's touchdown sealed the win for Cardiff.

The scorers:

For Cardiff Blues:
Try: Cuthbert
Con: Parks
Pens: Parks 4
Drops: Parks 2

For Edinburgh:
Try: Jones
Pen: Laidlaw

Cardiff Blues: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Chris Czekaj, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Xavier Rush, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Michael Paterson, 5 Paul Tito, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Tau Filise, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Tyrrell, 17 John Yapp, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Maama Molitika, 20 Josh Navidi, 21 Richie Rees, 22 Ceri Sweeney, 23 Gavin Evans.

Edinburgh: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 James King, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Harry Leonard, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Stuart McInally, 7 Roddy Grant, 6 David Denton, 5 Esteban Lozada, 4 Sean Cox, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Steve Lawrie, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Jack Gilding, 19 Steve Turnbull, 20 Ross Rennie, 21 Mike Blair, 22 John Houston, 23 Tom Brown.

Venue: Cardiff City Stadium
Referee: Wayne Barnes