Cardiff Blues fast out the blocks in derby win

Adam Kyriacou

Cardiff Blues produced an outstanding first-half to overcome Welsh rivals the Scarlets 41-17 in their PRO14 clash at Cardiff Arms Park on Friday.

Leading by an incredible 38-0 at the break thanks to tries from Owen Lane (2), Aled Summerhill (2) and Josh Turnbull, the Blues were flying.

Scarlets meanwhile were a shell-shocked side and could not live with the pace their hosts were playing at as the tries came thick and fast.

Lane got the ball rolling with their first on 15 minutes before Summerhill joined the party and then Turnbull, Summerhill and Lane chipped in further before half-time. Gareth Anscombe also added 13 points off the tee.

Maintaining that form was always going to be a difficult ask and unsurprisingly Scarlets rallied with tries from Wales prop Rob Evans (2) and Ioan Nicholas giving the scoreline some respectability. Anscombe meanwhile could only add one penalty in the second-half for the Blues.

[playbuzz-item item=”a7c7cd92-9b54-457a-9ea7-16de87fdc361″ info=”false” shares=”false” wp-pb-id=”566464″]

In the other two games played in the PRO14 on Friday, Edinburgh picked up a 28-11 victory over reigning champions Leinster that keeps them in the Conference B shake-up. The bonus-point win moves them fourth, just three points behind Benetton, who currently occupy second place.

Edinburgh’s scores came via WP Nel, Ross Ford, Viliame Mata and a penalty try, with Jaco van der Walt and Simon Hickey adding extra points.

Connacht also stayed in the play-off mix after beating Benetton 29-14 with a bonus-point to join Cardiff Blues on 52 points in Conference A. Caolin Blade, Matt Healy (2) and Jack Carty went over at the Sportsground, Antonio Rizzi and Dewaldt Duvenage responding for the visitors.