Cardiff survive Zebre scare to grab closely-fought 21-23 win

Zebre 21 - 23 Cardiff Blues

Cardiff survived Zebre's second-half reprisal to grab a closely-fought 21-23 win at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi during the 2016-17 Pro12 clash on Saturday.

The 12-point lead Blues enjoyed by the 45th minute was whipped down to just two points after the hosts crossed over for two tries.

Wing Blaine Scully (27), fullback Matthew Morgan (35) and wing Tom James (45) crossed over the try-line for the visitors. Fly-half Steve Shingler was able to convert only Scully's try in addition to scoring a couple of penalties in the first half while missing out on three attempts.

Scrum-half Guglielmo Palazzani (11), centre Giulio Bisegni (61) and wing Giovanbattista Venditti (74) scored tries for the hosts. Fly-half Carlo Canna and fullback Edoardo Padovani scored a penalty each, while none of the tries were converted.

Both the sides lost a couple of players to the sin-bin at over-lapping intervals. Zebre's Oliviero Fabiani and Federico Ruzza were booked in the 26th and the 42nd minute respectively, whereas, Blues' Josh Turnbull and Rhys Gill were sin-binned in the 29th and the 50th minute respectively.

The win has now positioned the Blues second in the points table after accumulating 17 points from four matches while remaining unbeaten, while Zebre are deep-seated on the 10th position after losing all three games while saving a couple of losing bonus-points.