A 25-point haul for Iestyn Harris, and five tries during a first-half scoring blitz, laid the foundations for Cardiff's victory over a highly-spirited Caerphilly outfit.

Harris' tally of a try, six conversions and two penalties took him past 200 career points for his club as he once again went through his full repertoire of tricks.

But it was as well that he did because the Blue and Blacks were rattled by the Cheesemen's gutsy second-half fight back, though in the end the Parker Pen Shield finalists were left with too much to do.

Cardiff showed their attacking intent from the outset, their forwards taking play into Caerphilly's 22 where home flanker Joe El-Abd was penalised for entering a ruck on the wrong side.

Iestyn Harris landed the subsequent penalty to give the visitors the second-minute lead.

The Blue and Blacks continued to make the most of playing with the wind as they enjoyed notable advantages in both territory and position and it was no surprise when they went further ahead on nine minutes.

Their initial thrust appeared to have lost its momentum until Rhys Williams came off his wing to change the angle of attack and crossed for a try under the posts. Harris converted.

But the Castletown men then struck back with their first incursion into Cardiff's 22, wing Ryan Howells' break setting up the position from which Luke Richards kicked a penalty.

However, this did little to disturb Cardiff's composure and they collected their second try in 17 minutes thanks to a splendid piece of vision from Harris.

The outside half saw Caerphilly's backs had come up in a line, so he placed a cleverly-directed cross-kick over their heads into the arms of grateful wing Dean Dewdney, who crossed for the easiest of scores. Harris again converted.

A questionable throw at a line-out led to Cardiff's next score, Rhys Williams and Donavan Van Vuuren making inroads to the hosts' defence before lock Adam Jones went over for a score converted by Harris.

Richards then landed two penalties in as many minutes to just about keep Caerphilly in touch, but two turnovers in the last five minutes before the interval cost them dear.

The first led to a try for Van Vuuren, while scrum-half Ryan Powell was on hand to claim the second, Harris converting both.

Whatever Caerphilly coach Mark Ring told his players during the interval seemed to have the desired effect as they came out in the second half looking a very different side.

Richards landed his fourth penalty on 43 minutes, while his speculative punt down the left wing caught Cardiff cold and almost brought a try for centre Jarred Murphy.

Two minutes later, Richards popped over another penalty, while the visitors lost Powell with a wrist injury, Richard Smith coming on as his replacement.

Harris then produced another piece of breathtaking skill, his outrageous 56-minute dummy leaving the entire Caerphilly defence rooted to the spot while he cruised through to convert his own try.

Trailing by 30 points with more than a quarter of the game remaining, Caerphilly could have fallen apart, but to their great credit they persisted in trying to play running rugby.

Their enterprise eventually led to a close-range try for Ryan Howells, Richards converting, while Cardiff's replacement-lock Heino Senekal achieved the dubious distinction of being yellow-carded for killing the ball less than 30 seconds after coming onto the field.

Tuipulotu's quick thinking, then created a try for lock Darren Davies, with Richards supplying a spectacular touch-line conversion.

At this stage Cardiff looked more than a little wobbly, but for all their gallant efforts, the home side could only muster another Richards penalty.

Fittingly, Harris had the final say with an injury-time penalty to round off another polished personal display.