Williams hat-trick keeps Blues flying

Cardiff Blues 48

Edinburgh 0

Half-time: 36-0

In a tale of two cities these are not the best of times, but nor are they the worst of times, at least not for the Welsh capital. In yet another campaign of underachievement, Cardiff are left, in the dregs of the season, to scrump for a share of the big apple in the Magners League. Yesterday the cider was sweet.

Cardiff have managed to turn the Arms Park into a ground where they have established a degree of pride and resistance. The Blues have not lost here since Edinburgh beat them 15 months ago. Mind you, this was Cardiff's first home match since competing in the Heineken Cup last January, which suggests a cock-up on the fixture list front.

Blues failed to survive to the knockout stages of the Heineken, as did Edinburgh. On paper the Scottish side, with a squad of Test players, should be a formidable outfit, but they are a team operating in a vacuum and this was not a happy homecoming for their director of rugby, Lynn Howells, the former Cardiff coach.

The first half was extraordinary for the fact that for the first 24 minutes almost nothing happened. The lock Scott Murray, one of a number of Scotland internationals who will be leaving Edinburgh at the end of the season, threw a punch at the home scrum-half, Mike Phillips. Then, after Ben Blair missed a penalty attempt, Cardiff went absolutely ballistic.

Their handling had been awful and their ball retention abysmal and then, as if by magic, everything clicked. In 14 minutes they scored 36 points. They ran in six tries in that spell, three of them by the right-wing Rhys Williams. It all started when the flanker Martyn Williams and hooker Rhys Thomas cleverly changed the direction of attack, and the powerful flanker Andy Powell crashed over in the right-hand corner. Blair converted from the touchline and the former New Zealand full-back, with a smart jink, then set up Williams for the first of his tries in the 28th minute.

The wing, playing his first match since ripping a hip muscle in October, could not believe his luck. Phillips created his second try in the 34th minute and three minutes later a break by the stand-off Nick Macleod enabled Williams to touch down again. His hat-trick came in a record nine minutes as Edinburgh were torn apart.

Williams was not the only beneficiary. The try scored by Phillips in the 30th minute was set up by Powell and covered almost the length of the field. There was another long-range effort from Blair who, in an 80-yard dash to the line, sidestepped his opposite number, Alistair Warnock. At half-time Cardiff went in to a standing ovation.

It could not get any worse for Edinburgh and it did not, as they rang the changes after the interval and at least managed to limit Cardiff to two more tries. Blair got his second in the 64th minute when he and he alone followed up a kick ahead by the replacement scrum-half Ed Fairhurst. Phillips may be heading for the Ospreys but he was still warmly applauded from the field.

Cardiff 's eighth and final try was scored by a man who sounds as if he should be playing for Edinburgh. Macleod converted his own score. Edinburgh's shambolic day was summed up by a yellow card for their replacement lock, Fergus Pringle.

Cardiff gained a bonus point for their victory - their 12th home win in succession in the League - and their coach, Dai Young, believes that with games in hand they can ascend the table. "Our focus is solely on the Magners League and nobody is giving up the chase here," he said. "We have to keep our ambitions high and we have to aim for the top otherwise there is no point. We still have a chance at the title."

Meanwhile, Roger Lewis, the Welsh Rugby Union's chief executive, is relieved there will be European rugby next season even if he is not sure whether the four regions will be playing against Leicester or London Welsh. If it is the latter, even Edinburgh might have a chance.

"This is a significant step forward from the gloomy picture we faced last week. It is vital that the players, coaches and fans all know that there will be a European club competition next season," Lewis said.

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