Cardiff Blues coach Danny Wilson paid tribute to Matthew Morgan after his two tries put the region into the quarter-finals of the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
The Blues made it into the last eight with a 37-21 victory over Bristol Rugby at the Arms Park.
They will face either the Ospreys or Gloucester in the last eight, depending on the result of Sunday’s game between Harlequins and Stade Francais in Paris.
If Quins win the Blues will face fellow Welsh side the Ospreys, but a Stade success would see them visit the Cherry and Whites. Either way, Wales’ capital region will be on the road in the knock-out stages.
Wilson said: “What you saw in the second half is when we can build and sustain pressure and make teams kick poorly to us that lights up Matthew Morgan.
“We can play some fantastic rugby and you saw that with some of the tries we scored today.”
The win came thanks to two tries from Morgan – his second a wonderful solo strike – and first-half efforts from Kristian Dacey and Gareth Anscombe. Sam Warburton, set up by Morgan, completed the victory late on.
A scoreless first quarter had seen Bristol have plenty of ball with centre Tusi Pisi their main threat. Fly-half Adrian Jarvis had also missed with a penalty effort he should have converted and once the Blues got their first score, they continued to dominate.
Hooker Dacey got things going, diving over from close range after repeated bursts from Nick Williams among others. Steve Shingler put the conversion wide, but Bristol’s wastefulness was then shown as Cardiff added their second score.
It was the Ashton Gate outfit who were on the attack but in midfield, a long pass from visiting flanker Nick Koster was picked off by Anscombe. Despite only just returning from a groin operation, the New Zealand-born Welshman sprinted clear from halfway to score under the posts.
Shingler converted that score and then kicked a 31st minute penalty to make it 15-0 but despite boasting a comfortable lead, Danny Wilson’s men then threw it away through two mistakes.
First a superb break from Bristol scrum-half Andy Uren – through some albeit weak Blues tackling – allowed Welshman Jordan Williams to score under the posts and then just seven minutes later, the visitors were over again.
Shingler’s loose pass was hacked on by Jordan Williams, the former Scarlet then finding Jack Tovey who saw a nice bounce of the ball give him another simple finish. Jarvis converted both sets of extras to leave Bristol with just a one-point deficit at the break.
The Blues knew at half time they had already made the last eight, but they started the second half with a bang.
Alex Cuthbert bounced a couple of tacklers and Morgan’s first try, which was unconverted, put them back ahead.
To their credit Wilson’s outfit were playing some nice stuff but as they attempted to push for more tries, another mistake saw Bristol strike back.
The game was following a familiar pattern and with the Blues once again on the attack, Ray Lee-Lo’s pass was intercepted by Jordan Williams who sprinted clear from inside his own half and outpaced Morgan to score.
Jarvis converted and for the first time, Bristol were ahead.
It was ebb and flow in the second half but after Shingler booted another penalty, the Blues finally put the game to bed. Morgan’s arcing run after collecting a clearance kick saw him scythe through the Bristol defence for a bonus-point score which showed the pint-sized full-back at his absolute best.
It came after replacement hooker Max Crumpton had been yellow carded for slowing the ball down at a ruck following a break from Cardiff substitute Tomos Williams.
Morgan was now on fire and with the game won, he allowed Warburton to get the game’s final try.
Shingler converted to leave the Blues with a quarter-final to look forward to.
Cardiff Blues: Matthew Morgan; Alex Cuthbert, Rey Lee-Lo, Steven Shingler, Blaine Scully; Gareth Anscombe, Lloyd Williams; Rhys Gill, Kristian Dacey, Anton Peikrishvili, Jarrad Hoeata, Macauley Cook, Josh Navidi, Sam Warburton (capt), Nick Williams
Replacements: Kirby Myhill, Corey Domachowski, Scott Andrews, James Down, Seb Davies, Tomos Williams, Garyn Smith, Rhun Williams.
Bristol: Luke Arscott; Jordan Williams, Jack Tovey, Tusi Pisi, David Lemi; Adrian Jarvis, Andy Uren; Jack O’Connell, Rob Hawkins, Gaston Cortes, Joe Joyce, Giorgi Nemsadze, Nick Koster, Jack Lam (c), James Phillips.
Replacements: Max Crumpton, Kyle Traynor, Jamal Ford-Robinson, Ian Evans, Nick Fenton-Wells, Martin Roberts, Thretton Palamo, Jack Wallace.
Referee: Mike Adamson (Sco)
