Dragons climb off bottom of URC after edging past Scarlets
Scarlets fly-half Sam Costelow missed two late kicks at goal to allow Dragons to move off the bottom of the BKT United Rugby Championship table with a 13-12 win at a rain-sodden Rodney Parade.
After a Boxing Day thrashing at Cardiff, Dragons made wholesale changes and it paid dividends with a spirited performance which saw them win the last Welsh derby of the festive period.
For most of the game they were marginally the better side but Scarlets still outscored them in terms of tries.
Aaron Wainwright scored Dragons’ try with Cai Evans adding two penalties and a conversion.
Tom Rogers and Ioan Lloyd scored Scarlets’ tries, one of which Costelow converted.
On his 100th appearance for them, Wainwright led out the Dragons and his side were soon ahead when Evans kicked a fourth -minute penalty.
Two minutes later, Evans was presented with another opportunity but this time his 50-metre attempt sailed wide.
However, Dragons were able to maintain the pressure with all of the first 15 minutes being played out in the visitors’ half but that period was easily forgettable as the try-line was never threatened.
In the incessant rain neither side were prepared to risk handling errors so kicking was the main order of the day.
After 20 minutes, Scarlets suddenly bucked the trend and with their first attack scored the opening try. A well-timed pass from Costelow created a gap for Ioan Lloyd with the full-back sending Rogers racing away to score.
Scarlets then suffered two blows in quick succession. First they lost wing, Steff Evans, to a failed HIA before Wainwright rewarded a number of forward drives by powering over from close range. Evans converted and Dragons held a deserved 10-7 interval lead.
Scarlets began the second half by conceding a number of penalties, the last of which Evans knocked over to extend the home side’s lead.
That score was the only one of a desperately poor third quarter with both sides unable to cope with the desperate playing conditions with knock-ons a prominent feature.
Dragons brought on forwards Leon Brown and Ollie Griffiths for the final quarter with Scarlets introducing Keiran Hardy in place of Gareth Davies at scrum-half.
With 12 minutes remaining, Scarlets scored an excellent try which belied the conditions. In the home 22, their forwards maintained possession with a number of forward drives before moving the ball swiftly in the opposite direction for Lloyd to dummy his way over.
Costelow missed the conversion and soon afterwards a straightforward penalty from only 20 metres out to give Dragons a morale-boosting victory.
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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