Edinburgh make it two from two at Cardiff Blues

Adam Kyriacou

Edinburgh claimed a hard-fought 19-11 win over Cardiff Blues at the Arms Park as they made it two wins from two to start the PRO14 season.

Each side could only manage a single try with Owen Lane crossing for the hosts and Jarrod Evans kicking two penalties.

Mark Bennett followed up his hat-trick against Zebre last week with his side’s try, as fly-half Jaco van der Walt added the conversion and four penalties.

Van der Walt gave Edinburgh an early lead with two penalties as the Blues infringed four times in the opening 10 minutes.

It was then the turn of the Scots to incur the wrath of the referee by conceding three penalties in four minutes with Fraser McKenzie being yellow carded for a deliberate offside.

The Blues chose not to kick for goal and opted for driving line-outs but it did not pay dividends as Liam Belcher lost possession as he dived over.

However, the hosts did take advantage of McKenzie’s absence when Garyn Smith broke Edinburgh’s defence with Aled Summerhill up in support to send Lane over.

Van der Walt’s third attempt rebounded back off a post before McKenzie returned from the bin but he was soon replaced in it by opposition lock Seb Davies, who flip-tackled Lewis Carmichael at a ruck in the home 22.

Despite the absence of Davies, Cardiff Blues picked up the next score with a simple penalty from Evans but one for Van der Walt nullified this to give the Scots a 9-8 interval lead.

Evans regained the lead with his second penalty before a superb burst from Duhan van der Merwe split the home defence to take his side into the opposition 22, from where the Blues were penalised and Van der Walt succeeded for the fourth time in six attempts.

Edinburgh still held a one-point lead going into the final quarter as both sides struggled to bring any continuity to the game, with frequent handling errors and regular penalty awards ensuring it was a disrupted contest.

Another try looked unlikely but, in the 71st minute, George Taylor made a clean break to send co-centre, Bennett, over with Van der Walt’s conversion depriving the Blues of a bonus point.

In the early game played on Saturday, Munster claimed a 31-20 victory at the Kings as Mike Haley, Alby Mathewson, Fineen Wycherley and Arno Botha went over at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

Elsewhere the Dragons came from behind to defeat Zebre 52-28 as Rhodri Williams, Owen Jenkins (2), Jordan Williams, Taine Basham and Harrison Keddie all went over for the Welsh side.

There was also a 63-26 victory for the Cheetahs as Anthony Volmink (3), Rhyno Smith (2), Joseph Dweba, Louis Fouche and a Reinach Venter brace saw them to the win at Free State Stadium.

In the late fixture Connacht took on Benetton at the Sportsground and won comfortably 41-5 thanks to crossings from Kyle Godwin, Caolin Blade (2), Tom McCartney (2) and Kieran Marmion.

Benetton Treviso