Cardiff Blues 19 - 15 Scarlets

Totally out muscled I'd say. The Scarlets were beaten by a stronger, more experienced Blues team in a game plagued by errors and bad decision making.

I'm a little confused as to what the Scarlets are trying to achieve with the kicking game being used currently. Last night at the new City of Cardiff Stadium, both Rhys Priestland and Daniel Evans continued to kick possession away without much chance of a chase. The majority of kicks ended up with the Scarlets losing territory, adding to the difficulty of beating a Blues team whose pack was clearly on top.

The Blues started brightest, scoring in the first half through Paul Tito who finished off a lovely move, started by Richard Mustoe. Mustoe broke through an attempted tackle from Johnathon Davies and continued by running over Daniel Evans. A quick sweeping move to get the ball out wide gave Tito the chance to fall over the line.

The Scarlets rallied late in the first half but couldn't break down the Blues. A pattern which continued long into the second half before a dubious David Lyons try rewarded the battling Scarlets' efforts. With hardly any time to breathe it was Rhys Priestland's turn to spot a gap in the Blues defence left by Sam Norton-Knight and ex-Scarlet Gavin Evans. Priestland carved through linking up with Gareth Maule on the way before the scoring pass was given to Johnathon Davies who ran in another superb try.

What was evident to me is that the Scarlets are lacking real firepower up front. Too many time the ball is turned over and there is a clear inability to compete at rucks without the likes of Dafydd Jones and Simon Easterby, the latter leaving the pitch early carrying an injury.

I'm probably more concerned about how our European campaign will go after this match as some of our weaknesses were clearly exposed by a poor Blues team.