Dragons tame log-leaders Glasgow with draw
An early try and another just before halftime gave Dragons a hard-fought draw at Rodney Parade, as the Warriors were not clinical enough in attack to penetrate their defence in the second half.
Liam Belcher got the Dragons off to the perfect start, opening the scoring within two minutes.
The hooker found himself on the right touchline with a two-on-one after quick hands from the hosts, then dummied the pass and dived over for his second try of the season.
The visitors responded through a great chip over the defence by George Horne for Brandon Thompson to latch onto and open Warriors’ scoring.
Adam Hastings couldn’t wait for a tee for the conversion so went for the quick drop-kick, but the ball hit the post for the score to remain 5-5.
Glasgow edged ahead at the end of first quarter as Hastings made no mistake slotting a penalty from in front of the posts.
Nick Grigg then created space on the left with a powerful hand-off and offload to Horne, who took a great inside supporting line and cantered through for the second try.
Hastings added the extras to put daylight between the teams after 25 minutes.
Zach Kirchner slotted a penalty in front of the posts just before halftime to take the deficit to within a converted try, which Dragons managed to fit in before the break.
Hallam Amos made an incisive run through the middle and put a deft chip through to Jared Rosser racing through and, after a perfect bounce of the ball, the winger was in under the posts.
Kirchner then converted to level the score and end a pulsating first half.
The second half was much tighter and Adam Warren almost broke the deadlock after an hour by sneaking an interception on Glasgow’s 22 line but lost his footing when he broke away and the chance was squandered.
Glasgow dominated the possession but couldn’t convert it into points as Dragons’ defence stepped up to the mark and kept out the league-leaders.
The scorers:
For Dragons:
Tries: Belcher, Rosser
Con: Kirchner
Pen: Kirchner
For Glasgow:
Tries: Thomson, Horne
Con: Hastings
Pen: Hastings
Teams:
Dragons: 15 Hallam Amos, 14 Adam Warren, 13 Tyler Morgan, 12 Jack Dixon, 11 Jared Rosser, 10 Zane Kirchner, 9 Dan Babos, 8 Harri Keddie (captain), 7 James Benjamin, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Rynard Landman, 4 Joe Davies, 3 Lloyd Fairbrother, 2 Liam Belcher, 1 Sam Hobbs.
Replacements: 16 Ellis Shipp, 17 Gerard Ellis, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Henri Williams, 20 Lennon Greggains, 21 Sarel Pretorius, 22 Gavin Henson, 23 Jarryd Sage.
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Ruaridh Jackson, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Brandon Thomson, 11 Ratu Tagive, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 Adam Ashe, 7 Chris Fusaro, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Greg Peterson, 4 Rob Harley (captain), 3 Siua Halanukonuka, 2 James Malcolm, 1 Alex Allan.
Replacements: 16 Grant Stewart, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 D’Arcy Rae, 19 Kiran McDonald, 20 Matt Smith, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Paddy Kelly, 23 Niko Matawalu.
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Nigel Correll (Ireland), Dewi Phillips (Wales)
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