AS tributes go, this was just about the perfect game for Glasgow Warriors as they commemorated the efforts of two club stalwarts with brilliant, scintillatuing rugby and cemented their place at the top of the Guinness PRO12 with a five-try demolition of their Welsh opponents.

Though the occasion was all about Al Kellock and Dougie Hall, nine years each at the club and more than 300 games between them, it was almost stolen by Peter Horne, the centre, who has had his fair share of troubles in recent months but laid on a demonstration of goal kicking and try poaching with a 12-minute hat-trick that is bound to stand him in good stead when the Scotland coaches sit down next month to pick the training squad ahead of the Rugby World Cup.

"He has been excellent for us over the last three years and in particular over the last three weeks," said Gregor Townsend, the head coach, afterwards. "He was very good for us during the Six Nations, bounced back from being left out of the last two games and played really well, was one of our best players over in Leinster and in this game was great until he felt a bit of tightness in his hamstring and had to come off."

For Horne, it was a case of being in the right place at the right time. "Great work by Tommy [Seymour] and I managed to sneak on the end," he said. "It was good to get the five points, and stay top of the league. I am working as hard as I can to positive performances on the field. This was a great win, and good fun as well."

Overall, Townsend was left delighted witht the first-half showing but frustrated by the way the standards dropped after the break when the game seemed to have been won. It may be hard to maintain concentration when the try bonus point is in the bag by half time, but second-half falters have become a bit of a Glasgow trademark recently.

The club had done all they could to ramp up the emotional intensity before the game with Al Kellock leading the team out for his 155th game - 151 as captain - and Dougie Hall running out for his 142nd match for the club before both retire at the end of the season.

Both took to the field with their children in tow having earlier seen their parents help deliver the match ball, with the sell-out crowd making their appreciation of the two stalwarts' efforts over the years obvious. The danger was that all that passion might have been a distraction for the players, and there were signs of that in the early exchanges with some sloppy handling errors - though Horne did pop over an early penalty to give them a little breathing space.

Cardiff seemed to have their share of dangerous runners, however, Josh Navidi, the No8, and Gareth Davies, the fly half, both forcing the home defence to scramble back to prevent scores. It was enough to win a penalty, kicked by Gareth Anscombe, the New Zealand-born Wales hopeful, to level the scores.

It didn't last. Glasgow came powering back, smashing at the visitors line until there was space on the left and who other than Hall turned up on the outside to mark his own tribute game with the opening try - just as he had joked he would.

Good was soon better, thanks mainly to Tommy Seymour, the wing, with Horne acting as finisher. The first was sparked by Finn Russell, the fly half, who had the vision to spot Seymour clear on the outside. He rode two tackles to make it into the 22 where Peter Murchie, the full back, acted as link man and Horne crossed.

Almost from the restart, Seymour popped up in midfield, seemed to be on his way to the line before a tap tackle brought him down, but there was Horne on his shoulder to take the pop-up and get a clear run to the line. He converted the second and Glasgow were cruising.

With Cardiff down to 14 men after Jarrad Hoeta, the lock, was sin binned for a high tackle on Peter Murchie, the Glasgow full back, the home side took full advantage, camping on the home line until they visitors' defence drifted too wide and Horne completed his hat-trick with the final action of the first half.

At first, it looked as though they were about to take up after the break where they left off in the first half, with Adam Ashe, the No8, romping in for the fifth try, but instead of pushing on to the kind of score that would really have sent a message to their rivals, Glasgow started to make mistakes, Gareth Davies, the fly half, and Dan Fish, the wing, both taking advantage of sloppy defending for tries that added some scarcely deserved respectability to the scoreline.

Scorers: Glasgow Warriors: Tries: Hall (24mins), Horne (28, 31, 40). Cons: Horne 3. Pen: Horne (4) Cardiff Blues: Tries: G Davies (60), Fish (68). Cons: Anscombe 2. Pen: Anscombe (12) Scoring sequence (Glasgow Warriors first): 3-0, 3-3, 10-3, 15-3, 22-3, 29-3 (half time), 36-3, 36-10, 36-17.

Glasgow Warriors: P Murchie; T Seymour, R Vernon, P Horne (D Weir, 46), D van der Merwe (L Jones, 25); F Russell, H Pyrgos (A Price, 68); J Yanuyanutawa (G Reid, 56), D Hall (P MacArthur, 50), M Cusack (J Welsh, 56), T Swinson, A Kellock (C), R Harley, C Fusaro (L Nakarawa, 60), A Ashe (J Strauss, 49).

Cardiff Blues: G Anscombe; A Cuthbert, T Isaacs, G Smith, D Fish (R Smith, 77); G Davies (S Humberstone, 70), T Knoyle (L Jones, 46); S Hobbs (T Davies, 31), K Dacey (M Rees, 49), A Jones (T Filise, 41), J Hoeata (sin bin: 40-50, (E Jenkins, 63), L Reed (J Turnbull, 41), M Cook, S Warburton (C), J Navidi.

Referee: G Clancy (Ireland)

Attendance: 7,240