Cardiff Blues 14 – 9 Castres Olympique
Wales wing Leigh Halfpenny was the star performer as Cardiff Blues beat Castres on Friday night.
Halfpenny continued his impressive comeback from injury with a second try in as many games in the Blues’ hard-fought Heineken Cup win.
The Lions flyer picked up the man-of-the-match award in a 14-9 victory as he provided the spark in a gutsy but far from perfect Blues display.
Having only returned from a lengthy lay-off in last week’s Magners League tie with Aironi, Halfpenny gave Wales head coach Warren Gatland a boost ahead of the Six Nations opener with England on February 4.
With the Blues leading 6-3 with 25 minutes gone, Halfpenny lit up the half with a piece of individual brilliance.
The 22-year-old controlled Casey Laulala’s well-weighted grubber with his right boot before out sprinting the defensive cover having picked a diagonal line from right to left.
The stadium held its collective breath as Halfpenny stayed down after diving over but he was soon jogging back to halfway after a brief intervention from the physio.
Unfortunately for the Blues support, that moment of magic proved to be the highlight of the encounter, with the rest of the home team’s points arriving through the boot of Dan Parks.
The Scotland fly-half slotted three penalties in total – two before Halfpenny’s effort and one just after half-time – with Seremaia Bai kicking two penalties for the visitors before replacement Pierre Bernard secured a losing bonus point for Castres with four minutes left to play.
While the performance wasn’t perfect by any means, the Blues have now won three games on the bounce.
The New Year’s Eve victory over the Ospreys was followed by a league win over Aironi and now a Heineken Cup victory over a Castres side that won the reverse fixture 27-20 back in October.
