Cardiff too strong for Dragons

MATCH REPORT: The Dragons suffered capital punishment at the hands of Cardiff as they slipped to a 23-31 loss at Arms Park in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday.

The Men of Gwent returned to league action against their local rivals eager to snap an eighteen-match losing streak against them in the URC.

But it was more derby day pain for the Dragons as three tries in a crucial ten-minute spell on either side of the break saw the hosts take control.

Dragons, without a win away from home in the Championship since April 2022, started the game the better and went clear courtesy of the boot of captain Angus O’Brien.

However, tries from Alex Mann and Harri Millard just before the break and another soon after from Callum Sheedy broke resilience. Rey Lee-Lo added a bonus fourth.

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The scorers

For Cardiff
Tries: Mann, Millard, Sheedy, Lee-Lo
Cons: Sheedy 4
Pens: Sheedy

For the Dragons
Tries: Lloyd, Seiuli
Cons: Evans, O’Brien
Pens: O’Brien 3

Yellow cards: Josh McNally (Cardiff, 34), Brodie Coghlan (Dragons, 41)

Teams

Cardiff: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Ben Thomas (captain), 11 Harri Millard, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Alun Lawrence, 7 Thomas Young, 6 Ben Donnell, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Daf Hughes, 1 Ed Byrne.
Replacements: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Rhys Litterick, 19 Seb Davies, 20 Alex Mann, 21 Ellis Bevan, 22 Rory Jennings, 23 Gabriel Hamer-Webb.

Dragons: 15 Angus O’Brien (captain), 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Joe Westwood, 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Jared Rosser, 10 Lloyd Evans, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Taine Basham, 6 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 5 George Nott, 4 Matthew Screech, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Brodie Coghlan, 1 Rodrigo Martinez.
Replacements: 16 James Benjamin, 17 Aki Seiuli, 18 Dmitri Arhip, 19 Joe Davies, 20 Ryan Woodman, 21 Morgan Lloyd, 22 Harry Wilson, 23 Huw Anderson.

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales), Mike English (Wales)
TMO: Aled Griffiths (Wales)