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Rugby Calvisano |
20 - 56 |
Cardiff Blues |
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| Match Details |
| Half-Time: |
13 - 18 |
| Att: |
3,500 |
| Referee: |
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| Venue: |
Centro San Michele |
| Date: |
Sat 11th Oct 2008 |
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| Quick Stats |
| Tries: |
10 |
| Conversion: |
7 |
| Penalties: |
4 |
| Drop Goals: |
0 |
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2 |
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0 |
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| Previous Meeting |
| Calvisano | 20 - 56 | Blues |
| | Blues | 43 - 16 | Calvisano |
| | Calvisano | 10 - 25 | Blues |
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| Perfect start for Blues in Heineken Cup |
| Cardiff Blues got their European campaign off to the perfect start by scoring eight tries in an away-day rout in Italy. |
Calvisano 20 Cardiff Blues 56
Dai Young's team cruised past the Super 10 champions to secure a bonus point and consign their opponants to a fruitless afternoon.
Maama Molitika, Jason Spice, Tom Shanklin, Ben Blair, Nick Robinson, Leigh Halfpenny and Gareth Thomas all went over, as well as a penalty try, to put Calvisano to the sword with ease.
Justin Purll went over in the first half as the Italians briefly threatened a shock result in Pool Six of the Heineken Cup.
But they were little match for the strength and pace of the Welsh region who breezed through with a devastating second half blitz of tries.
Cardiff opened their account when Molitika galloped through two tackles to score on nine minutes after Gareth Thomas had stretched Calvisano out wide.
Blair missed the conversion and moments later the Blues were reduced to 14 men for the first time when Deiniol Jones was shown the yellow card for his high tackle on fly-half Gerard Fraser, who picked himself up to convert the resulting penalty.
Despite being a man down, it was Cardiff who extended their lead during the ten-minute spell. Blair kicked a penalty before Alessandro Zanni deliberately blocked Jamie Robinson from racing onto a kick from his brother Nick, with Calvisano’s defence at sixes and sevens under Cardiff pressure on their own goal line, and French referee Jermone Garces awarded a penalty try.
Blair converted and Cardiff appeared to be on course for a comfortable win at 15-3 ahead, but Australian Justin Purll picked a hole in their close-quarter defence and stormed in from 25 yards out to bring the home crowd to life.
Fraser converted and Calvisano confidence grew as Jamie Robinson was ruled to have fouled during the build up to the try, and was the second Cardiff player to the sin bin in the half.
Blair and Paul Griffin exchanged penalties to leave the Blues 18-13 ahead at the break.
That was as close as Calvisano got as the Blues steadied the ship and produced some devastating attacking rugby, helped by some horrendous Italian defending.
Spice got Cardiff on track just three minutes into the second-half when he latched onto a clever long pas from hooker Rhys Thomas’ lineout. Thomas was again provider moments later when Shanklin brought up the bonus point.
Blair raced onto Robinson’s delightful floated inside pass on 51 minutes before the fly-half scored a deserved try himself, the pick of the bunch after Andy Powell’s initial break.
Calvisano skipper Leonardo Ghiraldini grabbed a consolation score just after an hour to reduce the damage on the scoreboard. But Shanklin put 19-year-old Leigh Halfpenny over in the corner before Thomas grabbed the easiest score of his long career after Calvisano lost possession behind their own goal line. |
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| Rugby Calvisano | Cardiff Blues |
| 20 - 56 | |
| Half-Time 13 - 18 |
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| Subs | Scoring | Name | No. | Name | Scoring | Subs |
|---|
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Luke McLean |
15 |
Ben Blair |
1T 5C 2P
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Daniele Forcucci |
14 |
Leigh Halfpenny |
1T
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Andrea Pratichetti |
13 |
Jamie Robinson |
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Matteo Pratichetti |
12 |
Tom Shanklin |
1T
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Ludovico Nitoglia |
11 |
Gareth Thomas |
1T
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1C 1P
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Gerard Fraser |
10 |
Nick Robinson |
1T
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1P
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Paul Griffen |
9 |
Jason Spice |
1T
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Hoani Tui |
1 |
Gethin Jenkins |
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1T
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Leonardo Ghiraldini |
2 |
T.Rhys Thomas |
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Ben Evans |
3 |
Gary Powell |
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Valerio Bernabo' |
4 |
Deiniol Jones |
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Peter Sidoli |
5 |
Paul Tito |
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Alessandro Zanni |
6 |
Ma'ama Molitika |
1T
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Aaron Persico |
7 |
Martyn Williams |
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1T
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Justin Purll |
8 |
Andy Powell |
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| Replacements |
| Replacements |
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Ali McKenzie |
16 |
Taufa'ao Filise |
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Alejandro Moreno |
17 |
Gareth Williams |
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David dal Maso |
18 |
Scott Morgan |
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Maurizio Zaffiri |
19 |
Robin Sowden-Taylor |
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Pino Patelli |
20 |
Richie Rees |
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1C
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Giovanni Raineri |
21 |
Ceri Sweeney |
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Marko Stanojevic |
22 |
Jamie Roberts |
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| Penalty Tries |
| 0 |
| 1 |
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| Name | Tries | Conv | Pen Kicks | Drop Goals | Total Points |
|---|
| Rugby Calvisano |
| Gerard Fraser | | 1 | 1 | | 5 |
| Paul Griffen | | | 1 | | 3 |
| Justin Purll | 1 | | | | 5 |
| Giovanni Raineri | | 1 | | | 2 |
| Leonardo Ghiraldini | 1 | | | | 5 |
| Total | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 20 |
|---|
|
| Cardiff Blues |
| Gareth Thomas | 1 | | | | 5 |
| Ma'ama Molitika | 1 | | | | 5 |
| Jason Spice | 1 | | | | 5 |
| Tom Shanklin | 1 | | | | 5 |
| Nick Robinson | 1 | | | | 5 |
| Ben Blair | 1 | 5 | 2 | | 21 |
| Leigh Halfpenny | 1 | | | | 5 |
| Penalty Try | 1 | | | | 5 |
| Total | 8 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 56 |
|---|
| First half timeline |
| 9 | Cardiff Blues | Try - M Molitika |
| 16 | Cardiff Blues | Yellow card - D Jones |
| 16 | Rugby Calvisano | Penalty kick - G Fraser |
| 23 | Cardiff Blues | Penalty kick - B Blair |
| 27 | Cardiff Blues | Penalty try |
| 27 | Cardiff Blues | Conversion - B Blair |
| 32 | Rugby Calvisano | Try - J Purll |
| 32 | Rugby Calvisano | Conversion - G Fraser |
| 33 | Cardiff Blues | Yellow card - J Robinson |
| 40 | Cardiff Blues | Penalty kick - B Blair |
| 40 | Rugby Calvisano | Substitution - G Raineri on for G Fraser |
| 40 +5 | Rugby Calvisano | Penalty kick - P Griffen |
| Second half timeline |
| 41 | Rugby Calvisano | Substitution - D dal Maso on for P Sidoli |
| 43 | Cardiff Blues | Try - J Spice |
| 43 | Cardiff Blues | Conversion - B Blair |
| 47 | Cardiff Blues | Try - T Shanklin |
| 47 | Cardiff Blues | Conversion - B Blair |
| 49 | Cardiff Blues | Substitution - R Sowden-Taylor on for M Molitika |
| 51 | Cardiff Blues | Try - B Blair |
| 51 | Cardiff Blues | Conversion - B Blair |
| 52 | Rugby Calvisano | Substitution - A McKenzie on for H Tui |
| 55 | Cardiff Blues | Substitution - S Morgan on for P Tito |
| 55 | Cardiff Blues | Substitution - R Rees on for J Spice |
| 62 | Cardiff Blues | Try - N Robinson |
| 62 | Cardiff Blues | Conversion - B Blair |
| 63 | Rugby Calvisano | Substitution - M Stanojevic on for L McLean |
| 63 | Rugby Calvisano | Substitution - A Moreno on for B Evans |
| 63 | Cardiff Blues | Substitution - G Williams on for T Thomas |
| 65 | Rugby Calvisano | Try - L Ghiraldini |
| 65 | Rugby Calvisano | Conversion - G Raineri |
| 67 | Cardiff Blues | Substitution - T Filise on for G Jenkins |
| 67 | Rugby Calvisano | Substitution - M Zaffiri on for A Persico |
| 70 | Cardiff Blues | Try - L Halfpenny |
| 71 | Cardiff Blues | Substitution - C Sweeney on for N Robinson |
| 71 | Cardiff Blues | Substitution - J Roberts on for J Robinson |
| 73 | Cardiff Blues | Try - G Thomas |
| 80 | Rugby Calvisano | Substitution - P Patelli on for P Griffen |
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