A Tom James hat-trick was not enough as the Cardiff Blues crashed out of Europe despite a 74-6 drubbing of Italian minnows Calvisano at the BT Sport Arms Park on Friday night.
The region needed results elsewhere to go their way to stand a chance of qualifying for the knockout stages and Montpellier’s victory against Harlequins ensured the Blues’ bonus-point win would not be enough.
The Blues had their first opportunity just three minutes in when a loose Calvisano scrum was recovered by the returning Sam Warburton.
The Wales captain fed Gareth Anscombe who had the vision to float out a long pass to Cory Allen but the centre was pulled down in the 22 and the attack fizzled out.
From the resulting scrum, the Blues pack put pressure on the visitors’ line before shipping the ball out wide – Wales call-up James darting over untouched to open the scoring in the 6th minute.
Immediately from the kick-off, Josh Navidi broke out of his 22 and following a few more phases, the home side were in again.
Another clean break released Anscombe and the pivot was able to find Allen with ease to put the centre in for a score.
If the home side were expecting it all their own way, they had a slight shock after being penalised at the scrum with Florin Vlaicu bisecting the uprights.
The Blues scrum got their own back as they drove the Italian pack of their own feed and it was all too easy as Allen found James with a delightful miss pass to score in the corner once again.
The Blues continued to put pressure on the Italian outfit and it paid off as Navidi went over from a driving maul to secure the bonus-point after just 24 minutes.
It did not take long for the Blues to strike again.
Dan Fish cantered in untouched after Tavis Knoyle had chipped the ball over the Calvisano defence following a quick tap to give the Blues a commanding half-time lead.
Calvisano came out fighting after the break but nearly conceded again as Alex Cuthbert was sent clean through following an error.
However, with the line in sight, the Blues wing was somehow caught from behind.
The try came eventually as hooker Ethan Lewis went over in the corner following a lineout.
The next score saw James claim his hat-trick – waltzing round the full-back with ease to dot down.
The rout continued as Allen picked off the most-telegraphed of interceptions to go over unopposed as the home side reached the 50-point mark.
The visitors mustered another score with a simple penalty cutting the gap to just the 46 points.
But the gap increased once more as Cuthbert finally got his try.
A very-much un-trademark break from prop Scott Andrews got the Blues on the front foot and Anscombe’s short pass released the Wales international for the seven-pointer.
Substitute Aled Summerhill was next on the act – crossing for the region’s tenth try of the match following a quick tap from fellow replacement Lloyd Williams.
The next score was the pick of the bunch as Rhys Patchell dived over following a flowing move from the Blues’ 22.
And replacement lock Macauley Cook concluded the rout as he went over in the dying seconds.
However, it all proved to be in vain and Danny Wilson’s men will rue previous results which left their destiny out of their hands.
