A lacklustre performance narrowly earned the Cardiff Blues four Magner's League points, despite being outscored two tries to one.

As seems to be the trend so far this season, the Blues conceded the first points of the game, this time a try after 11 minutes, as they stuttered and struggled to get out of 1^st gear. World Cup winning South African prop, BJ Botha, dived over the top of the maul from close range, as Ulster took an unexpected lead.

That came after an already scrappy opening, as a calamity of errors left the home crowd frustrated and angry. A comedy of handling errors was bad enough, but the lack of basic skills and any sort of direction going forward that continued for the majority of the match led to booing from large sections of the crowd.

Before the half was out, Ben Blair, one of few players to have come through the last week with his head held high, slotted two penalties, while O'Connor slotted one of his own, meaning the Ulstermen went in up at the break.

Half Time

Cardiff Blues 6 Ulster 8

Martyn Williams limped off just before the half time whistle with what looks to be a nasty ankle injury that is likely to see him miss a few weeks. The latest news on his condition is that he is set to have an X-ray on Monday.

But within minutes of the second half resuming, Williams was followed off the field by Nicky Robinson, who wasn't having his best performance to say the least. However, the boos and jeers he received as he walked off the pitch were appalling, it begs belief that a set of fans would boo one of their own long serving, loyal and committed players because he had underperformed.

In his place, Ceri Sweeney arrived and perhaps proved that Robinson's own poor performance was less a personal disappointment, as much as it was a bizarre set of new tactics being brought in by the three new coaches. As Robinson had before him, Sweeney looked to kick on every occasion, making any sort of progressive attack impossible, as well as irritating fans who were keen to see the highly talented set of backs run with ball in hand.

Things picked up in the second half as the game began to expand, both sides looking to run, although both lacking basic skills to make passes reach the right man, Jamie Robinson's pass to Leigh Halfpenny one stand out example.

Cardiff nearly took the lead for the first time in the match when Ben Blair's well struck penalty hit the outside of the right post. But fortunately, there wasn't too much longer to wait before the Blues managed their first try on 56 minutes. Young winger, Halfpenny, crossed after taking  a neat pass from Sweeney to exploit a mismatch in midfield. The pocket speedster showed a great spring in his sidestep to evade the first line of defence, while sheer pace alone was enough to see him race through under the posts, converted by Blair.

But any glory was short lived, with the resilient Irish province scoring just 5 minutes later. Jamie Robinson was the man most at fault, as scrum half Issac Boss spun all too easily out of the centres tackle, although in truth it should always have been Mark Lewis' man, the number 8 just losing concentration for a second.

O'Connor added the extras, meaning they were 2 points up with 10 minutes to go. But in one final dramatic twist, Blair's final shot at goal for the evening hit the post once more, but this time slotting over nonetheless.

Cardiff held on for in truth a pretty poor victory, but with 6 points from a tough opening week, in which the Blues faced 3 opponents, all three previous League Champions.

Full Time

Cardiff Blues 16 Ulster 15

To put a positive spin on the last 6 days, Cardiff have actually claimed more from the three fixtures than they did last season. In 07/08, Cardiff lost away against the Ospreys, beat Ulster at home, but lost the home match with Leinster, bettered by this years draw.

But really, that would be covering up the real issues, which have been the highly questionable performances. The main problem has undoubted been a lack of sensible game management from outside half, be it the individuals, Sweeney and Robinson, or the seeming lack of tactics implemented from coaching staff.

Elsewhere, we can perhaps point to the lack of two permanent fixtures in the side, Deiniol Jones and Xavier Rush. Jones' influence and work rate cannot be questioned, while the effect of having Rush on the pitch is second to none. In all three games so far this season, there've been no real leaders on the pitch, no one shouting at players, geeing the side on and making the bold decisions needed to change a match. And that's not even taking into account last years Magner's Top Try Scorer, Tom James, who has been badly missed on the wing.

Obviously the other contributing factor would be the fixture congestion itself, with very few sides being able to take much more than we have from the three matches in such quick succession. It makes match preparation nearly impossible, and means player burnout is likely to effect the end of matches, as seen at the Liberty Stadium.

Hopefully now, with the win under their belts and a week to prepare for yet another massive test in Munster, Dai can get the boys back on track and aiming for more victories, and improving the overall performance of his side.

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