Ben Blair stars in Blues victory

Jan 12 2008 Western Mail

BEN BLAIR ensured victory over Harlequins at Cardiff Arms Park last night to keep Blues on course for a place in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

They moved to the top of Pool Three after being forced to grind out a dogfight against opponents who had won just once in 10 attempts.

Although Harlequins were already out of the race for a place in the latter stages of the European showpiece, they were determined to prove a point.

Blues were dragged down to their level and pace after failing to put points on the board during an enterprising start.

But tries from Dafydd Hewitt and Tom Shanklin, backed up by the pinpoint goal-kicking of New Zealand international Blair was enough to see them home.

He converted both touchdowns and added three penalties for a vital 13-point haul.

Determined Harlequins posed problems and got tries through Wales international Hal Luscombe, reportedly keen on a move to a Welsh region for next season, and Mike Brown.

Blues had to dog it out up front in the heavy conditions with skipper Xavier Rush, locks Deiniol Jones and Paul Tito, Martyn and Gareth Williams, and Gethin Jenkins at the forefront.

With Bristol losing 19-11 against Stade Francais in Paris, it means Blues and the French champions leap-frogged the West Country outfit.

Blues are on 16 points, Stade have 13 and Bristol 12 with Harlequins trailing on two after losing four in a row.

Stade’s failure to secure a bonus point against Bristol was a massive fillip for Blues coach David Young and his men.

Two points, which a draw or losing by seven or less points and scoring four tries would provide, at the Memorial Ground against Bristol next Sunday would put them into the last eight for the first time since the region was formed five years ago.

The Cardiff club last reached that stage in 2001, beaten by Gloucester at Kingsholm.

Stade will be favourites to win at Harlequins and the Blues will have to improve on this showing to overcome Bristol, formidable opponents on their patch.

Heavy rain had nearly caused a postponement of last night’s encounter, prompting three pitch inspections.

Thankfully, the downpour stopped, allowing the Anglo-Welsh clash to go-ahead. Considering the pounding it had taken during the day and against Edinburgh in the Magners League last weekend it held up pretty well although the wet turf took its toll on players’ legs.

Blues started off like an express, hustling Harlequins and turning down a kickable penalty to go for a try.

In-form Jones won the resultant line-out near the Londoners’ line, but the home pack was halted when their rolling maul went down in the slippery conditions. They were forced to move it and promising centre Hewitt touched down between the uprights.

However, it was disallowed by French referee Romain Poite. He had spotted obstruction by Shanklin and awarded Harlequins a penalty.

Harlequins had to doggedly defend to keep the Blues, who had a real purpose and intensity in the way they were going about their work, at bay.

Former Wales captain Gareth Thomas launched a counter-attack after Harlequins lost a line-out on the Blues 22.

Right wing Jamie Roberts made more ground after juggling the ball before setting up a ruck.

Shanklin nipped around the blindside and went nearly 30m before being nailed. Blues continued to go through the phases, the sustained passage of play ending when an unidentified opponent illegally used a hand to steal possession at a ruck.

He was lucky not to see a yellow card after Poite blew up for a penalty, which full-back Blair kicked to put the Blues into a three-point advantage.

Luscombe took a great catch of an up-and-under from Nick Macleod in midfield.

They were frustrating the Blues and tempers began to fray. Blues’ cause wasn’t helped either by some inaccurate kicking out of hand. Their scrum was also under pressure at times.

Harlequins were working their way into the contest and outside-half Chris Malone had a chance to level in the 27th minute, but fired his penalty wide.

England winger David Strettle was poised to pounce on a wayward pass from Rush following a quick tap-penalty by the Blues, but Harlequins were pulled up for not having retreated the required 10 metres.

Malone provided an action replay of his earlier miss when he missed a second penalty in the 34th minute.

Blues gave themselves a needed morale-boost just before the interval when they scored a super try following a line-out.

Jones won it and scrum-half Jason Spice fed Martyn Williams, who was standing at No 10. The former Wales flanker is a clever footballer and put Hewitt through a gap with a superbly-timed pass.

Blair converted and they were 10 points up.

Harlequins loosehead prop Ceri Jones, capped by Wales in Australia last summer, brought down Roberts as the winger attempted to run through him.

Deiniol Jones was punched in the nose, Harlequins skipper Paul Volley receiving a dressing down from Mr Poite.

The Premiership side needed to score first in the second half to have any hope and duly did.

Blues’ defence was slow to react as Malone raced from the blindside to the openside to take a pass from Steve So’oialo.

Malone fired out a long pass to Brown and Hewitt bounced off the full-back. Luscombe cruised up and went over unopposed after accepting the offload.

The difficult conversion did not prove a problem for Malone. They had reduced the arrears to three points, leading to an outbreak of nerves from Blues fans.

But a Blair penalty in the 55th minute made it 13-7 to the Blues and eased the tension.

He repeated the dose four minutes later after Harlequins’ former South Africa international centre De Wet Barry was harshly sin-binned for a high tackle on Macleod.

Blues pressed home their one-man advantage when Jenkins drove for the try-line.

Shanklin was in support to take the ball off him and touchdown beneath a pile of bodies. Blair converted and it was 23-7.

Both sides made changes and Harlequins capitalised on a lazy defence to grab a second try, the impressive Brown getting it to reduce the margin to 11 points.