Leicester Tigers too strong for Cardiff Blues at Welford Road.
LEICESTER TIGERS 34 CARDIFF BLUES 0
SATURDAY 13 JANUARY 3.00 PM KICK OFF HEINEKEN CUP
The Cardiff Blues travelled to Leicester knowing that they would need a lot of results to go their way if they were to qualify from the group stages of the Heineken Cup. From the kick off Nicky Robinson did well drawing his man and passing out to Czekaj who had an early opportunity to stretch his legs all the way up to the Tigers twenty two. However a huge clearance by Leicester saw them right back up in the Blues half.
From the good field position the Tigers attacked and Tuilagi showed excellent strength breaking through the Blues defence to touch down after 3 minutes. Ian Humphreys converted and within seconds they added to the score when Danny Hipkiss sprinted in from inside his own half to touch down.
The Blues suffered another blow minutes later when they failed to clear a Gordon Murphy chip ahead and from the maul Daryl Gibson peeled off to score a try in the corner. Things were not looking good for the Cardiff Blues within 12 minutes they were 17-0 down.
Cardiff did battle and fight their way up to the Tigers twenty two and came close to the Leicester try line. However, the English giants did well clearing the ball.
From a scrum inside the Blues twenty two Leicester spread the ball and Seru Rabeni came in strong on a clever angle splitting the Blues defence and scoring near the posts. Ian Humphreys added the conversion.
HALF TME LEICESTER TIGERS 24 CARDIFF BLUES 0
The Blues nearly got the score when Chris Czekaj chipped ahead on the left, Ben Blair did well to gather the ball and pass inside and when it looked as if Czekaj had no one in front of him and the try line the linesman called them back for a foot in touch. The Cardiff Blues did threaten and put pressure on Leicester as they drove over the tryline, however it was impossible to see if they grounded the ball. Nothing was going the BluesÂ’ way as the ball popped out of the scrum Leicester scrappily cleared and the Blues had lost excellent field position.
It was Leicester Tigers who continued with their dominance when from a lineout in the Blues twenty two Lewis Moody crossed for a try.
A lovely chip kick ahead by Nick Robinson released Ben Blair on the left and lovely inter passing by Blair and Jamie Robinson saw the Blues work their way up to the Leicester half. It was a glimpse of the skill that the Blues posses in their ability to attack, however unfortunately it was Leicester who got the next score when Martin Corry picked up a lose ball and sped over for the final score of the match.