Cardiff claimed an unimpressive victory in a match which will be remembered more for the return to action of Wales fly-half Neil Jenkins, appearing for the first time this season after injuring his knee on last summer's Lions tour.

But while Jenkins entered the fray as a replacement midway through the second half, his old international partner Rob Howley was carried off in the closing seconds with suspected knee ligament damage.

The injury could rule him out for the rest of the season, but he will have a scan on Thursday.

Cardiff created the better chances in a poor first half, but wasted them.

Two outside breaks by Nick Walne, the Wales wing playing at centre, deserved better reward, while lock Luke Tait should have held on to a scoring pass under the posts.

Caerphilly, who had wing John Colderley tackled into touch just short of the try line in the opening minutes, rarely looked like threatening the home line after that.

But fly-half Luke Richards, a strong wind at his back, kicked three penalties to Nicky Robinson's two to give the visitors a half-time lead.

Even the early loss of full-back Seone Tuipulotu to the sin-bin for a late tackle did not ruffle Caerphilly, but when hooker Damien Geraghty was similarly punished at the start of the second period Cardiff took immediate advantage.

Fly-half Robinson jinked over from a close-range scrum, left-wing Andrew Henry rounded off some slick handling twice in successive minutes and by the time Geraghty returned his side were 18 points in arrears.

Ironically, Jenkins' first contribution was to concede a penalty at the tackle and Caerphilly ended a period of pressure with a consolation try by replacement scrum-half Andrew Jacobs.

Cardiff: Owain Ashman; Anthony Sullivan, Nick Walne, Matt Allen, Andrew Henry; Nick Robinson, Ryan Powell; Peter Rogers, Andrew Lewis, Gary Powell, Adam Jones, Luke Tait, Rob Appleyard, Emyr Lewis (capt), Robin Sowden-Taylor.
Reps: David Young, Greg Woods, John Tait, Francois Mounier, Rob Howley, Jamie Robinson, Neil Jenkins.

Caerphilly: Seone Tuipolotu; Calderley, Roddy Boobyer, Geraint Evans, Taufahema Tauna'holo; Luke Richards, Alan Chiltern; Matt Bolton, Damien Geraghty, Justin Hughes, Paul Jones, Neil Watkins, Gareth Jones, Mark Workman, Simon Grainger.
Reps: Nathan Jones, Jacobs, L Griffiths, Aled Jones, Dean Colclough, Tim Marston, Hill.

Referee: N Appleby (RFU).