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Scarlets hammered by Blues, Leinster beaten in Edinburgh

Cardiff Blues' Gareth Anscombe.

Cardiff Blues scored 38 unanswered points in the first half as they cruised to a 41-17 victory over the Scarlets on Friday to boost their Pro14 play-off hopes.

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Less than a week after Wales’ Grand Slam-clinching triumph over Ireland, and in the shadow of the Principality Stadium, Blues coach John Mulvihill threw Six Nations stars Josh Navidi and Gareth Anscombe straight back into his starting XV.

And Anscombe – playing at full-back after shining at fly-half for his country – was central to the capital region’s success, kicking 16 points, while Aled Summerhill crossed for two of five Blues tries.

The Scarlets held back their own brigade of Grand Slam champions, bringing on Gareth Davies, Ken Owens and Rob Evans at the start of the second half.

Evans scored two tries – his first of the season – as the visitors mounted a response at the Arms Park, but the damage done in the opening period was too much to overcome.

The result sees the fourth-placed Blues stay level on points in Conference A with third-placed Connacht, who triumphed 29-14 over Benetton.

Matt Healy scored two tries as the Irish province got the better of Conference B’s second-placed side, while Jack Carty became their all-time record points scorer with a try that secured a bonus point in the 80th minute.

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Leinster are already assured of their play-off spot and suffered only their third defeat of the season at Edinburgh, losing 28-11.

A closely fought first half ended 14-11 in the home side’s favour but tries from Ross Ford – making his 203rd appearance to become the second-most capped player in the competition’s history – and Viliame Mata saw them streak clear after half-time.

Edinburgh now sit just two points off the third play-off spot in Conference B, moving above the Scarlets.

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fl 1 hour ago
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I don't listen to Nigel Farage. Really not sure where you'd be getting that from. Maybe you should stick to responding to what I've actually said, rather than speculating about my sources.


I'm not sure what you think Putin is going to do. He'll probably conquer Ukraine, but its taken him a long time, and cost him a lot of soldiers. Hitler overran France in a matter of weeks and then started bombing Britain. At this rate Putin might make it to Paris by 2080? I think he'll give up long before then!


I don't see what Stalinist language policy has to do with any of what we're talking about. De-Ukrainization took place in the 1930s, but the genocide of Palestine is taking place in 2025. If your argument is that the invasion of Ukraine is part of a longer history of Russian suppression of Ukraine then you might have a point, but that really just underlines the key difference between Hitler and Putin; Hitler wanted to dominate as much area as possible and so posed a threat to all of Europe, whereas Putin wants to force the assimilation of those who have historically been within the Russian sphere of influence, so only poses a threat to eastern europe and central asia.


"Read and think for yourself."

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Flankly 1 hour ago
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