Cardiff Blues resisted a late comeback from Treviso to claim a 20-13 Pro12 victory at Stadio Monigo on Saturday.
The home side started brightly, more than matching their Welsh visitors, and nearly registered the first try as Corniel Van Zyl charged down a kick in the opposition twenty-two and full-back Ludovico Nitoglia launched a swift counter-attack from deep moments later.
It was the Blues' reliable fly-half Dan Parks who put the first points on the scoreboard though with a penalty midway through the first half.
Veteran South African fly-half Willem de Waal levelled the scores for Treviso after 25 minutes but they did not have parity for long as Martyn Williams and Harry Robinson, on for the injured Richard Mustoe, scored in quick succession to give the Blues a 17-3 half-time lead.
The second try was a killer blow. Just as the hosts were looking to launch another attack, Robinson intercepted an errant pass and raced away to touch down.
The Italians struggled to recover and Williams could have added a third but came up just short as he stretched for the line right on the half-time whistle.
Treviso did respond admirably in the second half though and grabbed themselves a bonus point with two tries in the final ten minutes.
Replacement Simon Picone grabbed the first and the second came courtesy of winger Brendan Williams, who finished off a scintillating counter attack which began deep in their own 22.
De Waal missed both conversions and the Blues were never really in danger of losing the game but the bonus point was just reward for the Italians' efforts.
The scorers:
For Treviso:
Tries: Picone, Williams
Pen: de Waal
For Cardiff:
Tries: Williams, Robinson
Cons: Parks 2
Pens: Parks 2
Yellow card: Vosawai ( Treviso - 46th min)
Treviso: 15 Ludovico Nitoglia, 14 Benjamin De Jager, 13 Tommaso Iannone, 12 Andrea Pratichetti, 11 Brendan Williams, 10 Willem De Waal, 9 Fabio Semenzato (capt), 8 Marco Filippucci, 7 Gonzalo Padṛ, 6 Manoa Vosawai, 5 Corniel Van Zyl, 4 Francesco Minto, 3 Pedro Di Santo, 2 Diego Vidal, 1 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet.
Replacements: 16 Enrico Ceccato, 17 Augusto Allori, 18 Carlo Fazzari, 19 Valerio Bernaḅ, 20 Enrico Pavanello, 21 Simon Picone, 22 Ezio Galon, 23 Alberto Di Bernardo.
Cardiff Blues: 15 Ben Blair, 14 Richard Mustoe, 13 Gavin Evans, 12 Ceri Sweeney, 11 Chris Czekaj, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Richie Rees, 8 Xavier Rush, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Michael Paterson, 5 Paul Tito (c), 4 Cory Hill, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 1 Sam Hobbs.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Tyrell, 17 John Yapp, 18 Ryan Harford, 19 Macauley Cook, 20 Maama Molitika, 21 Lewis Jones, 22 Harry Robinson, 23 Tom James.
Venue: Stadio Monigo
Referee: David Wilkinson
Assistant Referees: Giuseppe Vivarini and Stefano Roscini
TMO: Mauro Dordolo
Comments
Viriato says...
Treviso woke up too late. Cardiff always in control. Good match of rugby, it was please to watch.
Posted 18:00 03rd March 2012