Cardiff Blues v Benetton Treviso

[TRF_Cymro]

Venue: Cardiff City Stadium
Date: Thursday, 21 April
Kick-off: 1905 BST
Coverage: Live on BBC Two Wales & online, score updates online, repeated on demand on iPlayer, highlights on Sunday's Scrum V (BBC Two Wales & online, 1900-1945 BST)



Cardiff Blues: Chris Czekaj; Leigh Halfpenny, Casey Laulala, Jamie Roberts, Tom James; Dan Parks Richie Rees; John Yapp, Gareth Williams, Taufa'ao Filise, Bradley Davies, Paul ***o (c), Ma'ama Molitika, Martyn Williams, Xavier Rush.

Replacements: Rhys Williams, Sam Hobbs, Scott Andrews, Deiniol Jones, Michael Paterson, Lloyd Williams, Ceri Sweeney, Dafydd Hewitt.



Treviso: Joseph Maddock; Tommaso Benvenuti, Ezio Galon, Alberto Sgarbi, Ludovico Nitoglia; Willem De Waal, Fabio Semenzato; Augusto Allori, Leonardo Ghiraldini (c), Lorenzo Cittadini, Francesco Minto, Valerio Bernabò, Manoa Vosawai, Alessandro Zanni, Paul Derbyshire.

Replacements: Franco Sbaraglini, Michele Rizzo, Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet, Benjamin Vermaak, Robert Barbieri, Simon Picone, Andrew Vilk, Luke McLean.

Referee: Neil Paterson (Scotland)

Assistant referees: James Jones, Simon Harris.

TMO: Gareth Simmonds (Wales).


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/13133248.stm
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[dullonien]

Should be a win for the Blues, the big question is wheather or not they'll secure the bonus point aswell. I feel it's a must in this game due to how tight the run-in is. It's not an easy task though against a Treviso side that's prooven themselves right from the off. Treviso aren't the same animal away from home though, so I have a feeling the Blues will secure the full 5 points from this game.

 

[dullonien]

Well that was fun! Bloody terrible performance from the Blues. The only positive was that they won the match, but the performance was shocking really. No intensity or urgency apart from Rush and Roberts on occasion, no creativity in the backs either! Every player seemed to be standing still recieveing the ball, and most of them simply shipped the ball on untill they ended in touch. The forwards took the ball up in single file, making little ground and producing slow ball. Surely a pod of 2 or 3 forwards all driving forwards together would make more sense than a lonesome player taking on 2 or 3 defenders!

I officially hate Parks, he's such a rubbish player. What does he really offer the Blues, apart from wasting opportunities by kicking the ball? Why does he think that the best way to take advantage of an overlap is to chip the ball through or throw a long missed pass? All players are guilty of the second point, it's basic rugby, one of the first things you're taught in school!

Czekaj's not much better! Does he know how to pass the ball? Because I don't think I saw him pass once tonight untill it was too late and the opportunity gone! I have a little sympathy for Laulala, it seems he's gotta create everything himself, which is bound to lead to some mistakes. Parks' distribution is rubbish, he has no idea how to bring Laulala or Roberts into the match.

I don't think Treviso helped matters mind. They were infringing at allmost every ruck, and in the end were lucky that the ref was too gutless to red-card two of their players for repeat infringements!

Blues missed an opportunity tonight to really apply some pressure on Leinster. They're still in a decent position to make the playoffs, but they're not gonna get past Leinster or Munster away in the Semi's if they play anything like they did tonight! Problem is, they've been like this all season, and there's little evidence that they can change things and up their game in the last few weeks of the season. I wouldn't be atall surprised if they loose their last two games against the Dragons and Scarlets, but hope they can get the results so the playoffs aren't dominated by 3 Irish provinces.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Got to say how dire the Blues were tonight. As Dull has pretty much mentioned everything I was going to say above.

One thing that got me going tonight was Dai Young's interview at the end of the game with Phil Steele. Young was asked why did he not bring on Sweeney earlier and Dai said that it was because Parks was playing well and the kicking game was good. From what I saw Parks was going deeper and deeper everytime and was not brining anyone else bar himself into the game.

Blues tactics were all wrong tonight also. Kicked for goal to often instead of just going for the corner and going for the bonus points. So negative tonight unreal.

Thought Neil Paterson was abysmal tonight. Really poor standard of officiating. He was so inconsistent with the yellow cards was unbelievable. Zanni already on a yellow card should have been yellowed again but Paterson bottled out of it because it meant Treviso would go down to 14. This was not the first example, think the prop was also penalised and got away with it. At the breakdown it was a shambles, a real free for all. Paterson needs to go back and learn to officiate and take James Jones with him.