Cardiff Blues v Gloucester - Challenge Cup Final

Details

Friday 11th May 2018, KO 21:00 local (20:00 BST)
San Mamés Stadium, Bilbao
TV: BT Sport, Sky Sport, beIN Sports, FR$
Referee: Jérome Garcès


Teams:

Cardiff Blues
15. Gareth Anscombe; 14. Owen Lane, 13. Rey Lee-Lo, 12. Willis Halaholo, 11. Blaine Scully; 10. Jarrod Evans, 9. Tomos Williams; 1. Rhys Gill, 2. Kristian Dacey, 3. Tau Filise, 4. Seb Davies, 5. Josh Turnbull, 6. Josh Navidi, 7. Ellis Jenkins, 8. Nick Williams
16. Kirby Myhill, 17. Brad Thyer, 18. Scott Andrews, 19. Damian Welch, 20. Olly Robinson, 21. Lloyd Williams, 22. Garyn Smith, 23. Matthew Morgan


Gloucester Rugby
15. Jason Woodward; 14. Tom Marshall, 13. Billy Twelvetrees, 12. Mark Atkinson, 11. Henry Trinder; 10. Billy Burns, 9. Callum Braley; 1. Josh Hohneck, 2. James Hanson, 3. John Afoa, 4. Ed Slater, 5. Mariano Galarza, 6. Jake Polledri, 7. Lewis Ludlow, 8. Ruan Ackermann
16. Motu Matu'u, 17. Val Rapava Ruskin , 18. Fraser Balmain, 19. Freddie Clarke, 20. Ben Morgan, 21. Ben Vellacott, 22. Andy Symons, 23. Tom Hudson

Any thoughts?

LondonTiger wrote:Any thoughts?

I hope both teams lose.

munkian wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:Any thoughts?

I hope both teams lose.

That's not generally how rugby works.

You'd assume the Glaws pack will have too much for the Blues.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

munkian wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:Any thoughts?

I hope both teams lose.

That's not generally how rugby works.

You'd assume the Glaws pack will have too much for the Blues.

I wouldn't assume that, Cardiff forwards have really fronted up recently and the team's defence has been fantastic.

They also have a very balanced yet aggressive backrow and tidy 9/10 combo.

Thoughts... Blues Win by 5 points.

I'm no Keerdiff fan but I'd be hugely surprised if they lose to be honest.

munkian wrote:I'm no Keerdiff fan but I'd be hugely surprised if they lose to be honest.

Really?! They’re not that good!

I wouldn’t be surprised with a win, loss or draw to be honest.

Head says Gloucester, heart says Pro14 loyalty so Cardiff to win. Should be pretty even and a cracking warm up to tomorrow’s game.

With the exception of Clermont I don't think there is a finer team than Glaws at losing in finals. If we'd been playing this a few months ago I'd have said Glaws would have walked this. On present form it'll be very, very difficult. Our forwards have been very poor recently and if they play like they did against Bath we don't stand a chance. If they do front up and we don't play kamikaze rugby, we've got more than enough quality to win this. That's lots of big IFs!

Hopefully this will be the last Challenge Cup game we play for many a year!

munkian wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:

munkian wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:Any thoughts?

I hope both teams lose.

That's not generally how rugby works.

You'd assume the Glaws pack will have too much for the Blues.

I wouldn't assume that, Cardiff forwards have really fronted up recently and the team's defence has been fantastic.

They also have a very balanced yet aggressive backrow and tidy 9/10 combo.

Hope for a good game between two teams looking to throw the ball round then.

It's quite astonishing Andrews is on the bench for the Blues as either one of Lewis or Peikrishvilli would do a better job. Might well cost them the game as Filise is unlikely to last more than 50 min.

Phenomenal early turnover by Navidi, textbook. The hooker screaming at the ref is absolutely pathetic though and should see the decision reversed we need to see that kind of football level appealing stamped out the game.

Ah real shame to see Navidi heading off already.

Surely the ref has to let him touch the ball down and then go to the TMO for such a huge decision like that.

We all hate seeing them go to the TMO for everything, but so disappointing to see such a clear cut and avoidable mistake in a big final.

Actually the second time this has happened to Gloucester in the last few weeks. Early try vs Bath disallowed without going to TMO, only for replays to show it should have stood. Coincidentally Ludlow the (non) scorer on that occasion too.

Hopefully this one won’t turn out to be costly - it really was a howler.

It was odd for Garces to blow early. It was a close decision but he could have just let him sit down and then go back for it.

Glaws playing in all the right areas of the pitch. Clever and pragmatic. Blues guilty of overplaying it a little, maybe need to mix their attacking play a little more as it's a bit easy for Glaws.

formerly known as Sam wrote:It was odd for Garces to blow early. It was a close decision but he could have just let him sit down and then go back for it.

Glaws playing in all the right areas of the pitch. Clever and pragmatic. Blues guilty of overplaying it a little, maybe need to mix their attacking play a little more as it's a bit easy for Glaws.

It looked forward from the side on camera live. I'm not sure why they didn't show that angle again in the replay.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:It was odd for Garces to blow early. It was a close decision but he could have just let him sit down and then go back for it.

Glaws playing in all the right areas of the pitch. Clever and pragmatic. Blues guilty of overplaying it a little, maybe need to mix their attacking play a little more as it's a bit easy for Glaws.

It looked forward from the side on camera live. I'm not sure why they didn't show that angle again in the replay.

Well I'm still undecided. Many replays could be watched once he'd asked the TMO thought.

Great try by Blues to start the second half off. They are playing with a lot more freedom and invention in this half. Game on.

Shocking decision. Clearly offside. Should never be a try.

Us Glaws fans are used to this!

That’s now a 14 point swing on improper use of TMO. Very poor.

Apologies, I’m not usually one to bemoan refereeing decisions. Let’s hope the focus for the rest of the game remains on the great rugby being played by both sides!

Should be miles ahead!

Penalty against Andrews at the scrum.

What a great come back from the Blues. A well deserved win, congratulations to them!

Jesus, I watched that last 10 minutes from behind the couch.

Why "leave it" at every breakdown as Cardiff run down the clock? Just killed the last minute of the game.

Garces and his TMO should be getting a real rollicking after ballsing this game up.

Fantastic game of two halves but will be sadly remembered for two controversial decisions the second of which was so obvious it makes a complete farce of the whole TMO system that it was given.

Blues will really miss Wilson, clearly got the best out of that squad.

Great comeback here albeit probably a bit lucky. Hard luck Gloucester fans.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Why "leave it" at every breakdown as Cardiff run down the clock? Just killed the last minute of the game.

Garces and his TMO should be getting a real rollicking after ballsing this game up.

Fantastic game of two halves but will be sadly remembered for two controversial decisions the second of which was so obvious it makes a complete farce of the whole TMO system that it was given.

You sound Welsh!

Credit to Cardiff for keeping belief and playing some good stuff, but such a shame how big an impact the officials have had. Not a good advert for the game.

Gloucester are poor at dealing with such adversity, something to work on for next season.

Well that was hard to take. Garces absolutely threw that game with a 17 point swing.

Congratulations to Cardiff Blues for winning that, when all seemed lost. Great character. Losing two key players like that, would really hurt some teams (especially Dragons) and so to come through that is incredible.

The Oracle wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Why "leave it" at every breakdown as Cardiff run down the clock? Just killed the last minute of the game.

Garces and his TMO should be getting a real rollicking after ballsing this game up.

Fantastic game of two halves but will be sadly remembered for two controversial decisions the second of which was so obvious it makes a complete farce of the whole TMO system that it was given.

You sound Welsh!

Nope from Leicestershire, so a neutral. Just annoys me that we have TMO and yet we seem incapable of using it. It's there to ensure the big decisions are correct. The chip and score wasn't even debatable or a close call. The TMO must have been out using the toilet because there's no way he reviewed that properly and decided the winger was onside. What's the point of having the TMO we might as well just do away with it, if it's not going to work.

As a Bath man even I thought Gloucester were pretty hard done to the point of being robbed. Garces really does run either hot or cold and the video won't make good viewing for him.
Cardiff did well to hang in there as they comprehensively lost the contact battle and had to go wide and take risks every time in the second half and made a good game of it, although Gloucester should have been out of reach.

Congrats to Cardiff and Phil BB. He must be pleased with tonight.

Doubly qualifying for the Champions Cup and a pot for the cabinet is a good end to the season.

Great win by Cardiff, and good for welsh rugby! It was needed. Great for Wilson too as I've never seen such an underappreciated coach and he really did get the best out of an average squad. With a new coach incoming, silverware, and Europe's top tier next year NOW is the time to make some squad additions.

Too bad for Navidi, I had him pencilled in at 7 for Wales. Now it will be Jenkins.

What a load of one eyed bias rubbish has been spouted on here tonight.

Yes Garces, reffing was dubious at times, but the bad calls where equal, with him giving as many decisions against the Blues as he did Gloucester. In fact, Gloucester was getting away with murder most of the game.

So just accept it. The sides where evenly matched with the Blues just edging it.

Well done Blues, done Wales proud, hopefully the Scarlets can keep the Welsh Flag flying in the Pro14. And fingers crossed the Ospreys (my team) can win their playoff to give us 3 Welsh teams in next years Champions Cup.

Given I'm the only Glaws fan commenting on this thread I'm presuming you're aiming that at me? Out of interest, what big calls went Glaws' way?

For clarity, I'm not blaming Garces. He was inept but not as much as Glaws were in the 2nd half. We should have just stuffed it up our jumpers and played the percentages like we did in the 1st half. Cardiff took their chances well, but we were masters of our own downfall.

As someone not that bothered who won but slightly rooting for the Pro14 team I have say Garces was directly responsible for a 14
point swing to Cardiff thanks to two appalling decisions.

Almost certainly decided the match
Never been a fan of his, lets far too many illegal plays go unpunished.
So it was doubly ironic he called a non existent forward pass when Ludlow scored

No HongKongCherry, not directed at you specifically, just a comment at all the posters who blame Gloucesters loss on Garces referring.. just look at the posts above, nearly all of them

Truth is, no one has commented about the calls that went wrongly against the Blues, like the penalty, that was kicked against them, when Blues player (think it was Olly) was on his feet, won the ball legally as but a Gloucester player lying down on top of others illegally pulled it back, yet Gloucester won the penalty, and this was one of many Gloucester infringements that went unpunished in the breakdown. If Navidi hadn’t gone off so early, I don’t think Gloucester would have had the chances to infringe in the breakdown.

Anyway, game is over, and as said by so many English fans after the Wales v England 6 Nations game. It’s done, its over and result stands, so stop blaming the officials.

And by the way, I’m An Ospreys supporter not Blues, but like many Welsh fans, will always support the Welsh teams.

Gloucester where the best side first half, but Blues where the better side in the second half, and Blues also the better side over 80 mins by 1 point.

No9 Garces called that call against Robinson correctly he had one hand on the floor and the other on the ball hence wasn't supporting his own weight. Glaws were more hard done by when Ludlow conceded a penalty, he was initially on his feet but as the Cardiff player held on the support players forced him to lose his balance. Cardiff kicked those three. Breakdown can be a bit of a lottery so it's hit and miss whether you get decisions there.

Referees make mistakes that's part and parcel of the game but the TMO not intervening to stop the clearly offside try is inexcusable. The replays are obvious and clear cut its literally the TMOs job. Ruined the game for me as a neutral because it made the Cardiff win by such a narrow margin completely unjust. Had Cardiff run away with it the fine but they didn't.

Given the Cardiff momentum they might still have won and then we'd be talking about how both teams offered one half of cracking attacking rugby each.

no9 pointing out referring errors that are decisive in the game is a quite reasonable thing to do.
Do you think the past to Ludlow was forward ?
Do you think the winger was onside when the trey was scored in the left hand corner of the second half, following a kick through ?
I submit you have to be very one sided to answer Yes to either of those questions.

Of course decisions do go both ways during the course of 80 mins but rare to see a game where two wrong decisions were so decisive.
I also agree with Sam Robinson clearly put a hand on the floor.

I agree with the decision to bin Ludlow, I also agree that Cardiff put in a magnificent response in the second half but that does not take away that for this game incorrect referring decision were key.

As I also said I am not a fan of either team but did want Cardiff to win as the Pro14 side

It seemed like a good game with change in momentum throughout.

Pity about the talking points being the officiating but people expect correct calls.  We will always see 50:50 as 60:40 to our team but TMO needs to make correct calls that lead to unfair advantage. They are there to make the big call

But again a good final and from a Pro 14 view glad Welsh teams have won trophies two years in a row. Hopefully for the Blues this isn't just down to the good influence of Wilson
Glaws coach seems to have had a good impact in his first year.

It was a good game and very entertaining for the neutral.

I've seen some dire Challenge Cup finals - this wasn't one of them

geoff999rugby wrote:no9 pointing out referring errors that are decisive in the game is a quite reasonable thing to do.
Do you think the past to Ludlow was forward ?
Do you think the winger was onside when the trey was scored in the left hand corner of the second half, following a kick through ?
I submit you have to be very one sided to answer Yes to either of those questions.

Of course decisions do go both ways during the course of 80 mins but rare to see a game where two wrong decisions were so decisive.
I also agree with Sam Robinson clearly put a hand on the floor.

I agree with the decision to bin Ludlow, I also agree that Cardiff put in a magnificent response in the second half but that does not take away that for this game incorrect referring decision were key.

As  I also said I am not a fan of either team but did want Cardiff to win as the Pro14 side

I called it forward when watching it live but the replays didn't show the same side on angel again. I'll have to watch it again.

Weird one for me

Now my nephew plays for Cardiff Blues "North"

Not gonna cheers against Ponty boys like Jarrod Evans

Not wanting to cheer on the Blues who are supported by a bunch of horrible people

I was not the only one in the pub who said this

No one cheered against Cardiff...no one supported them

Shame it has to be like this

Steffan wrote:Weird one for me

Now my nephew plays for Cardiff Blues "North"

Not gonna cheers against Ponty boys like Jarrod Evans

Not wanting to cheer on the Blues who are supported by a bunch of horrible people

I was not the only one in the pub who said this

No one cheered against Cardiff...no one supported them

Shame it has to be like this

Rubbish uncle.

The Oracle wrote:

Steffan wrote:Weird one for me

Now my nephew plays for Cardiff Blues "North"

Not gonna cheers against Ponty boys like Jarrod Evans

Not wanting to cheer on the Blues who are supported by a bunch of horrible people

I was not the only one in the pub who said this

No one cheered against Cardiff...no one supported them

Shame it has to be like this

Rubbish uncle.

The Oracle wrote:

Steffan wrote:Weird one for me

Now my nephew plays for Cardiff Blues "North"

Not gonna cheers against Ponty boys like Jarrod Evans

Not wanting to cheer on the Blues who are supported by a bunch of horrible people

I was not the only one in the pub who said this

No one cheered against Cardiff...no one supported them

Shame it has to be like this

Rubbish uncle.

A Cardiff City fan, I believe. Wears Ayatollah pyjamas.

Glaws got away with murder in the passage of play to one of Cardiff's tries - should of been several yellows the amount of times they tried to trip and take the Cardiff player out off the ball.