Cardiff maintained their winning start to the Indigo Premiership season with a hard fought win over Swansea at the Arms Park.
On a bright afternoon the Blue & Blacks started well, but the All White’s defence was equal to the task. And they were first to move the scoreboard as a penalty by James Davies gave them an early lead. That was cancelled out by Gareth Thompson following a break by James Beal before Cardiff scored the game’s first try. Thompson had put pressure on the All White line with a clever kick through and when the ball wasn’t cleared to touch the Blue & blacks ran the ball back. Joe Garr burst through several tackles before finding Sam Beard who forced his way over in the corner, despite the best efforts of Swansea tacklers. Thompson added the extras.
It got better for Cardiff as shortly after try number two was registered. Ben Thomas sliced through a hole in the defence and when he found his way blocked he found support from Tom Habbefield who scored under the posts, Thompson added the extras. But that was as far as it went for the scoring for the home side. The second half was mainly played between the two twenty-twos and a lot of errors meant the game was very broken up. When Cardiff did get near the Swansea line they seemed to get on the wrong side of the referee and give away penalties just at the crucial time, allowing the visitors to clear their lines.
Swansea were to gain a bonus point right at the end of the game. A loose pass went to ground and was picked up by Phil Jones. He raced nearly half the length of the pitch to score a try that he converted leaving Swansea within seven points, but giving Cardiff a 17-10 win.
The Cardiff man of the match was Sam Beard, who was presented with his reward by John Huw Williams.
Post Match Interviews.
James Dixon
Sam Beard
Tom Habberfield
