Cardiff Blues became the first Welsh region to reach a European final thanks to a nerve-wracking win over London Wasps on Saturday night.
Dai Young’s men were 18-15 winners at Adams Park in the second semi-final of the Amlin Challenge Cup as they set up a mouth-watering tie with Toulon in Marseilles in three weeks time.
A try in either half from Leigh Halfpenny and Gethin Jenkins, together with eight points from Ben Blair, saw the Blues continue a stunning run of form.
The Magners League outfit have won six games on the bounce, five of which have come on the road, so they will no doubt travel to France full of confidence on May 23.
Weather conditions dictated the style of play on show in High Wycombe after spring sunshine made way for torrential rain shortly before kick off but it was the Blues who showed more enterprise in a tense encounter.
The two tries were the result of contrasting passages of play , with Halfpenny finishing off a fine wide move on 30 minutes and Jenkins powering over from close range with just shy of an hour played.
An impressive step from Ceri Sweeney and a well-judged pass from Rhys Thomas allowed Halfpenny to make light work of attempted tackles from Mark van Gisbergen and Tim Payne, while Jenkins and the Blues pack making the most of Simon Shaw’s 55th-minute yellow card by completing a driven lineout after Thomas had successfully hit his jumper at the tail.
Things could easily have been very different as Dave Walder’s boot threatened to win the day for the hosts, with the former Newcastle fly-half justifying his selection over Danny Cipriani with five penalties from six attempts.
Walder almost took proceedings into extra time in dramatic fashion but a 45-metre penalty ended wide of the posts to spoil the his 100-per-cent record with 76 minutes on the clock and the Blues held out for an epic win.
