Aironi no match for Blues

A dominant first-half performance propelled Cardiff Blues to a 20-3 victory against Magners League bottom side Aironi in Viadana.

The Welsh side seemed to be cruising towards a bonus-point victory after taking a 17-3 lead into the half-time interval, but added only three more points after the break.

Ceri Sweeney kicked 10 points while Richard Mustoe and Lloyd Williams both scored first-half tries. The Italian side's only points came courtesy of a Ludovic Mercier penalty.

The visitors were able to name a strong side as Wales trio Martyn Williams, John Yapp and Scott Andrews were released by the WRU in order to get some game-time.

Prop Williams played the full 80 minutes, while fellow front-row Yapp and lock Andrews each played a half.

The first points were on the board after just three minutes, with Sweeney booting over a penalty to give the Blues a lead they would comfortably retain for the rest of the contest.

Try

Cardiff grabbed their first try a little over 15 minutes later as full-back Mustoe crossed the line, with Sweeney knocking over the conversion for a 10-point lead.

Mercier then managed to get Aironi on the scoreboard with a successful penalty of his own, but within four minutes the visitors had moved even further clear.

Lloyd Williams touched down on this occasion, going over in the 33rd minute before Sweeney stepped up again to make it 17-3 with the conversion.

The hosts then tightened things up and prevented any further scoring in the seven minutes before the break, but Cardiff must have been eyeing the two tries required for a bonus point.

Sweeney kicked another penalty just two minutes after the restart, but the visitors did not manage to score again and the game petered out.

Aironi held firm for 38 minutes without further damage, but never looked likely to mount a comeback from the sizeable deficit.