Cardiff ease to 19th successive victory over struggling Dragons

Callum Sheedy scored 16 points as Cardiff recorded their 19th consecutive victory over Dragons in a 31-23 triumph.

The Gwent side were competitive in the first half-hour but then fell apart as the hosts scored three tries in 13 minutes to build up a match-winning advantage.

Cardiff’s tries came from Alex Mann, Harri Millard, Rey Lee-Lo and Sheedy, who added four conversions and a penalty.

For Dragons, Angus O’Brien kicked three penalties and converted late tries from Morgan Lloyd and Aki Seiuli.

A knock-on from Josh Adams gave the Dragons an early platform, and they should have taken advantage, but O’Brien blazed wide with a simple 30-metre penalty.

In contrast, Cardiff took their first opportunity when Sheedy knocked over a more difficult kick after Taine Basham had been penalised at a ruck.

O’Brien had more success with his second attempt before the hosts suffered a blow when their Irish prop, Ed Byrne, limped off.

Dragons also lost a player to injury when centre Joe Westwood departed, but they should have overcome this setback only for O’Brien to again miss with a straightforward kick.

It was 3-3 at the end of a poor first quarter, and the Dragons, who had just edged the contest at this point, were rewarded when O’Brien found the target.

Cardiff’s woes continued when they first lost their flanker Ben Donnell to a serious-looking arm injury before O’Brien kicked a third penalty.

That was the home side’s 10th penalty they had conceded in the first 30 minutes, but they hit the front with the first try.

Mann crashed over from close range, but Cardiff immediately lost Josh McNally to a yellow card for deliberate offside.

Dragons hooker Brodie Coghlan joined McNally in the sin bin for another offside, and Cardiff capitalised when Millard brushed aside some weak defence to give the hosts a 17-9 interval lead.

Within three minutes of the restart, the home side had a third try when Adams and Cam Winnett provided the space for Sheedy to touchdown before they picked up their bonus point when Lee-Lo strolled over.

The game was over, butthe  Dragons showed some spirit to score two tries from replacements Lloyd and Seiuli in the final 15 minutes.