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Cardiff continue Dragons domination with emphatic Boxing Day victory
Cardiff extended their impressive winning run over local rivals Dragons to 18 league games by handing out a Boxing Day thrashing at a sold-out Arms Park.
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An abysmal first-half effort from bottom-club Dragons saw them completely out-gunned by a slick home side, who would end up running in nine tries in the match as they claimed an emphatic 55-21 victory.
Rhys Carre, Tomos Williams and James Botham each scored two tries with Ben Thomas, Kieron Assiratti and Cam Winnett also touching down. Tinus de Beer added five conversions.
Harri Keddie scored two tries for Dragons, both of which Cai Evans converted, while the visitors were also awarded a penalty try.
It took Cardiff less than three minutes to open the scoring when Carre finished off a succession of forward drives by crashing over.
However, Dragons were soon level when a break from Aneurin Owen split the home defence with Keddie up in support to score.
The whirlwind start to the game continued with a third try in the first 10 minutes. Ashton Hewitt failed to deal with an up and under which allowed Ray Lee-Lo and Mason Grady to make ground down the right flank before Carre was on hand for his second score of the afternoon.
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Cardiff extended that lead when Thomas powered through a weak tackle from Taine Basham before a strong run from Teddy Williams gave Tomos Williams a simple walk-in and the hosts had their bonus point inside only 18 minutes.
Dragons’ woes continued when Botham forced his way over from close range for two tries in quick succession before Tomos Williams beat two defenders for his second score after Lee-Lo’s elusive run had put the defence on the back foot.
Seven tries in the first half equalled the United Rugby Championship record with De Beer taking his tally to five conversions for a 45-7 interval lead.
Dragons made three changes at half-time but the tide was not stemmed as Assiratti trundled past a weak tackle from Rhodri Williams to take the home side past 50 points.
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Keddie responded with his second try before the visitors were awarded a penalty try for the hosts collapsing a line-out drive, with replacement prop Rhys Litterick sin-binned.
Cardiff took off a number of their leading lights but they still had the final say when Grady’s burst sent Winnett over to complete the try-scoring.
Comments on RugbyPass
Big empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
34 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
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