Rugby European Cup, Pool Four/Cardiff Blues - 17 Leicester - 21: The Blues used to be the softest of Heineken European Cup touches but in the last year they have added a resilience and meanness at forward to go with their lightness of touch behind.
However, Gary Powell took the emphasis on physicality too far 12 minutes into the second half when, after another home scrum broke up in ignominy, he aimed a head-butt at the taunting Leicester hooker George Chuter and was promptly sent off. The tighthead prop was last night given a four-week ban.
The butt marked the turning point. Until then, Leicester had been in the ascendancy.
The only area where they struggled was the breakdown: the five penalties they conceded in the opening half were forfeited in the tackle, allowing the Blues to regroup, but the battle for the ball on the floor between two of last year's Lions, Lewis Moody and Martyn Williams, was a contest as absorbing as the match itself.
Moody, blond mane reddened after an accidental knee in the head from Williams, was at his destructive best, straining everything to get to the ball first, while Williams was more calculating, appreciating what the referee would tolerate at the breakdown, forcing a number of turnovers.
When Powell was dismissed, the Blues were hanging on, only 18-14 down but pinned in their own half with the Tigers' pack roaring.
The Welsh region's head coach David Young took the gamble of sending on his prop replacement at the expense of a wing, ensuring his forwards remained at eight but reducing his backs to six.
Leicester had used the ball adroitly, although the loss of the centre Ollie Smith before half-time with an ankle injury impaired their ability to get the ball wide.
Not only should victory have been swiftly sealed but a bonus point snaffled.
As Leicester were contemplating taking all the spoils, their wing Tom Varndell showed why his coach Pat Howard had packed him off to first division Bedford last month in frustration at the player's attitude.
Varndell had scored his side's second try at the end of the first quarter, but he wrecked a dangerous move immediately after the restart when he knocked on in the Blues' 22, looking at the large shadow cast by his opposite number, Mosese Luveitasau, rather than the ball.
When Varndell rashly tried to prevent the Blues taking a penalty in their own half six minutes after Powell's banishment, Leicester lost their one-man advantage for 12 minutes as well as their blindside wing. The Blues soon reduced the Tigers' lead to a point when Ben Blair kicked a penalty.
Leicester could not regain the momentum and the Blues looked the more likely winners in the final 10 minutes, but whereas the Tigers had a reservoir of experience to draw on in terms of success at club level, the Blues had a puddle: poor execution of moves and two shocking lineout throws in prime positions cost them, and when Leicester finally relieved the siege in stoppage time, Sam Vesty had the presence of mind to drop a 40-yard goal.
If the second half was a tense affair, the first had been remarkably open, Leicester scoring two tries in seven minutes after Nicky Robinson's solo opener for the Welsh region.
Chris Czekaj scored the Blues' second try after 26 minutes, but although three kicks made up the remaining scores, the action was never less than full-blooded.
Leicester gained some revenge for Anglo-Welsh reverses this season, but the Blues are the team for the longer term.
CARDIFF: Blair; Luveitasau, Shanklin, Stcherbina, Czekaj; N Robinson, Phillips; Jenkins, Thomas, Powell; Jones, Sidoli; Morgan, Williams (capt), Lewis. Replacements: Rush for Lewis (45 mins); Filise for Luveitasau (55 mins); Robinson for Stcherbina (66 mins); Davies for Sidoli (76 mins). Tries: N Robinson, Czekaj. Cons: Blair 2. Pen: Blair. Sent off: Powell (52 mins).
LEICESTER: Vesty; G Murphy, Smith, Gibson, Varndell; Goode, Ellis; Castrogiovanni, Chuter, White; Hamilton, Kay; L Deacon, Moody, Corry (capt). Replacements: Rabeni for Smith (40 mins); Ayerza for Castrogiovanni (64 mins); Bemand for Ellis (68 mins). Tries: Smith, Varndell. Con: Goode. Pens: Goode 2. Drop-goal: Vesty. Sinbinned: Varndell (58 mins).
Referee: A Lewis (Ireland).
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