by Jordan Jones
AN ERROR-PRONE Cardiff Blues tasted defeat to Edinburgh in their first home game of the Pro14.
Cardiff Blues trailed 9-8 at half-time and were unable to contend with the clinical kicking of man-of-the-match Jaco van der Walt who kicked five successful kicks before Mark Bennett clinched the game with a match-winning try.
The Blues failed to offer much in attack, barring Owen Lane’s first-half try and were made to pay for the number of penalties they conceded.
George Taylor was a late replacement for Richard Cockerill’s side, replacing internationally-capped Matt Scott.
Jaco van der Walt’s penalty from distance gave Edinburgh an early lead after Blues captain Nick Williams was offside in midfield. The South African outside-half converted a second penalty kick seven minutes later after Olly Robinson was off his feet at the ruck.
The Blues’ almost sent through an immediate response but Liam Belcher’s try was from a driving maul but was chalked off following a knock-on.
Edinburgh’s Fraser McKenzie was yellow-carded for an infringement at the maul and the Blues made the most of the man advantage. Owen Lane, making his first appearance of the season scored the games first try from a blistering attack with Garyn Smith heavily involved in the build-up. Jarrod Evans missed his kick from the conversion.
Blues’ Seb Davies was sent to the sin bin for lifting Lewis Carmichal’s legs above the horizontal.
Jarrod Evans put the Blues ahead from a penalty kick which was straight in front of the posts after Edinburgh infringed at the ruck.
Their lead was short-lived as van Der Walt converted his third penalty kick, highlighting the Blues’ inconsistency in the first half. The 25-year-old was unable to further Edinburgh’s lead before the break after missing a difficult kick.
The hosts’ first-half performance was full of individual errors, highlighted with the penalties they conceded, with the Edinburgh side set up to frustrate the Capital region.
Blues took an early lead in the second-half as fly-half Evans successfully kicked a second penalty following a dominant scrum, providing them with a two-point lead.
Sloppy errors continued to creep in and they were punished. The Blues backs switched off as Edinburgh broke well from a first phase move. Lane conceded a penalty on van Der Merwe to allow countryman van der Walt to kick for a one-point advantage.
The Blues’ were punished in the final ten minutes as Edinburgh’s George Taylor avoided a number of tackles to offload to Mark Bennett for their first try.
John Mulvihill’s side were unable to pose a late response to an Edinburgh side who proved frustrating to play against. Blues next play the Glasgow Warriors next week.
Cardiff Blues: M Morgan; Lane, G Smith, Halaholo, Summerhill; J Evans, L Williams; Thyer, Belcher, Arhip, S Davies, Thornton, Turnbull, Robinson, N Williams (capt).
Replacements: Dacey, Domachowski, Andrews, Lewis-Hughes, Boyde, L Jones, Tovey, Millard.
Edinburgh: Hoyland, Farndale, Bennett, Taylor, Van der Merwe, Van der Walt, Groom (capt); Schoeman, Willemse, Ceccarelli, McKenzie, Douglas, Carmichael, Crosbie, Haining.
Replacements: Fenton, Bhatti, McCallum, Kunavula, Miller, Shiel, Hickey, Johnstone.
