It was tightly fought first half as both teams threw everything at one another, but the Isuzu Southern Kings made better use of their chances in the opening stanza, allowing them to build up a 13-5 halftime lead.

The Cardiff Blues, however, fought back strongly in the second half, outscoring the hosts four tries to two to increase their tally for the match to five for the 31-27 victory.

The hosts opened up the scoring early on with a penalty goal compliments of Demetri Catrakilis (flyhalf), but the Cardiff Blues hit back with a try by Olly Robinson (flanker) in the ninth minute from an effective rolling maul.

Catrakilis added his second penalty goal in the 12^th minute to push the team back into the lead and they built on this with a try by Tienie Burger (flanker) in the third quarter from a pick-and-go after some good forward play, while the visitors were reduced to 14 men after Jarrod Evans (flyhalf) was sent to the sin bin.

The Cardiff Blues were dealt another blow in the 31^st minute as their captain, Nick Williams (No 8), received a yellow card for a dangerous tackle, which saw them playing with 13 men for a few minutes, but despite this they managed to shut out the home team, and entered halftime 13-5 down.

The Welshmen struck back strongly in the opening minutes of the second half with Liam Belcher (hooker) crossing the tryline from a rolling maul, but their narrow deficit was short-lived as Stefan Ungerer (scrumhalf) dived over the tryline from a dummy pass to edge them back into an eight-point lead.  

Matthew Morgan (fullback) added the Blues’ third try on the stroke of the fourth quarter after taking advantage of an overlap on the outside. They built on this with a try by Kristian Dacey (replacement hooker) from a strong rolling maul, which pushed them into the lead.

The Isuzu Southern Kings were dealt a blow soon after as Jerry Sexton (lock) received a yellow card for collapsing a maul, and the visitors took full advantage of this with Harri Millard (winger) going over in the corner.

The visitors’ were reduced to 14 again men soon after with Will Boyde (replacement flanker) receiving a yellow card in the 77^th minute, and the Kings made the most of this with Andell Loubser gathering the ball close to the tryline and scoring his first try in the Guinness PRO14 to close the gap on the scoreboard to four points.

Unfortunately, this proved to be the last points of the match, forcing the Isuzu Southern Kings to settle for a disappointing 31-27 defeat.

Scorers:

Southern Kings 27 (13) – Tries: Tienie Burger, Stefan Ungerer, Andell Loubser. Conversions: Demetri Catrakilis (3). Penalty goals: Catrakilis (2).