American No. 8 Kort Schubert went over twice after Nicky Robinson had capped his return from long-term injury with an early try to give Cardiff a precious win. The Blues are now four points behind Ulster for the Heineken Cup play-off place an ten behind the Scarlets, who they meet next, in the battle for the third and final automatic Welsh qualification spot.

They were also boosted by the return of Robinson following a virus that has kept him out of action for both the Blues and Wales all season. However, he took just 20 minutes to show his skills when he slotted over a sweetly struck drop goal and then stepped inside Shaun Payne for the opening try. Deiniol Jones blocked Mike Pendergast’s clearance and Schubert pounced to open a 17-3 lead for the Blues.

Munster rallied in the second half through tries from Frankie Sheahan and Marcus Horan and Cardiff were twice reduced to 14 men with yellow cards for Lee Thomas and then Robin Sowden-Taylor. But Schubert caught the Munster lineout sleeping for a second try before Thomas put Cardiff out of reach with a late penalty.

Cardiff Blues: N Macleod; D Dewdney, T Davies, L Thomas, C Morgan; N Robinson, R Powell; M Jones, G Williams, B Evans, C Quinnell (capt), D Jones, M Molitika, R Sowden-Taylor, K Schubert.

Replacements: J Vaughton, D Hewitt, R Smith, N Llewellyn, R Thomas, J Goode, N Thomas.

Munster: C Cullen; J Kelly, S Payne, R Henderson, A Horgan; P Burke, M Prendergast; M Horan, F Sheahan, G McIlwham, T Bowman, T Hogan, J Williams, D Wallace, S Keogh.

Replacements: F Roche, J Flannery, T Hayes, A Quinlan, E Reddan, J Holland, P Devlin.

Referee: Mike Hall (Scotland)