Cardiff Blues 36 - 30 Racing 92
Sun 22 January 15:15 Cardiff City Stadium Att: 8,091 Ref: Andrew Small Heineken Cup

Blues make two changes for Le Crunch

Fri 20 Jan 2012 10:26 Blues make two changes for Le Crunch
There is one change in the backs with Gavin Evans coming in for Gavin Henson at inside centre and one change in the forwards with Scott Andrews coming in at tight-head for Fau Filise, who is out with a shoulder injury.

Tom James is on the bench in place of Richard Mustoe and Sam Hobbs comes in as front row cover.

The Blues and Edinburgh are level on 17 points in Pool 2 but if things remain level on match points after the end of the group stages, the Blues will top the pool due to their superior head to head record between the teams, with the Blues 5-4 better off thanks to a losing bonus point they claimed up in Murrayfield.

The maximum either team can get in the pool is 22 points, however, 21 points maybe enough for both teams to qualify as a best placed runners up. With it being the last pool match played over the weekend both teams will know exactly what they need to reach the knock out stages.

Speaking ahead of the match Cardiff Blues Backs Coach Gareth Baber first reflected on the win in Paris saying,

“No team likes being beaten at home and the next time you get to play the opposing team it’s a great opportunity, so I’m sure Racing Metro will be looking to get one over on us.”

“We are mindful of what they will bring, however, we have to back ourselves to get the victory.”

“Our first thoughts are to keep our focus and a winning mentality. We need to get the win and see where we are at the end of it. It’s no good talking about winning bonus points because it’s easy to say what you’re going to do before the game but things change during the match.”

“However, we are fortunate to have the quality players within this group that are able to adapt to the situation in the game and make it count. Rugby is about the winning and sometimes when you produce a winning performance you get maximum points at the end of it.”

Season ticket holders are reminded that they can buy additional tickets for the match for only £10 each, with a maximum of two £10 tickets per season ticket holder.

Tickets for the Cardiff Blues v Racing Metro, Sunday 22 January, 3.15pm kick off, are available online on www.cardiffblues.com/tickets or by calling 0845 345 1400.


Cardiff Blues 15 Leigh Halfpenny 14 Alex Cuthbert 13 Casey Laulala 12 Gavin Evans 11 Chris Czekaj 10 Dan Parks 9 Lloyd Williams

8 Xavier Rush 7 Sam Warburton 6 Michael Paterson 5 Paul Tito (c) 4 Bradley Davies
3 Scott Andrews 2 T Rhys Thomas1 Gethin Jenkins

16 Ryan Tyrell 17 John Yapp 18 Sam Hobbs 19 Maama Molitika 20 Josh Navidi
21 Richie Rees 22 Ceri Sweeney 23 Tom James

Not available due to injury:

Fau Filise - shoulder
Jamie Roberts - knee
Dafydd Hewitt - hamstring
James Down - ankle
Andries Pretorius - knee
Deiniol Jones - shoulder