Cardiff's comeback adds to Dragons' woes
MATCH REPORT: The Dragons squandered a 15-0 lead during the first-half as Cardiff scored four tries to deny the hosts a first win over their Welsh rivals at Rodney Parade in 10 years in Round 9 of the United Rugby Championship.
The Dragons bossed the territory and possession as well as the set-pieces in the opening 10 minutes but was unable to convert it into points.
Cardiff’s ill-discipline allowed the Dragons to apply the pressure – with Wales international Josh Adams having a lucky escape what appeared to be a deliberate knock-on in the 11th minute which only resulted in a scrum to the Dragons which resulted in a penalty.
The Dragons got the opening score in the 14th minute through No.8 Aaron Wainwright off an attacking lineout move which Angus O’Brien converted.
Cardiff’s ill-discipline continued to be a trend and O’Brein added three more points in the 17th minute to push the score to double figures.
The Dragons added a second score after a neat cross-field kick by O’Brein for Rio Dyer who got the perfect bounce to score the try which went unconverted in the 20th minute.
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Cardiff squandered a couple of scoring opportunities but Teddy Williams got the visitors on the board in the 33rd minute which went unconverted.
Josh Adams scored Cardiff’s second try in the second-half with a strike move off an attacking scrum which Callum Sheedy converted to make it a three-point game.
Cardiff hit the front for the first time in the 56th minute after a great attacking move off the lineout with the ball travelling through multiple pairs of hands that saw Hamer-Webb score the try in the left corner which Sheedy converted.
The Dragons bashed away at the Cardiff line for 29 phases with ball-in-hand and the dam wall eventually broke when Rhodri Williams managed to get the ball down which O’Brien converted to take the lead once again in the 68th minute.
The Dragons’ ill-discipline gifted the visitors territory and possession with the hosts initially managing to stop two rolling mauls, but Illegally, with the third one being successful for Cardiff when Evan Lloyd crossed the line in the 75th minute which went unconverted.
The Dragons gave it one last roll of the dice from inside their own half but Cardiff got awarded a penalty for a croc-roll by Danny Southworth.
Sheedy missed the penalty which gave the host a second bite of the cherry, but a knock-on by the Dragons was enough for the visitors to walk away with a full-house of points.
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Scorers
For the Dragons:
Tries: Wainwright, Dyer, Williams
Cons: O’Brien 2
Pens: O’Brien
For Cardiff:
Tries: Williams, Adams, Hamer-Webb, Lloyd
Cons: Sheedy 2
Dragons: 15 Huw Anderson, 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Joe Westwood, 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Jared Rosser, 10 Angus O’Brien (captain), 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Taine Basham, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Ryan Woodman, 4 Joe Davies, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Brodie Coghlan, 1 Rodrigo Martinez.
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Aki Seiuli, 18 Paula Latu, 19 Nick Thomas, 20 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 21 Che Hope, 22 Will Reed, 23 Cai Evans.
Cardiff: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Ben Thomas (captain), 11 Gabe Hamer-Webb, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Alex Mann, 6 James Botham, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Dafydd Hughes, 1 Corey Domachowski.
Replacements: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Danny Southworth, 18 Rhys Litterick, 19 Seb Davies, 20 Alun Lawrence, 21 Ellis Bevan, 22 Rory Jennings, 23 Tom Bowen.
Referee: Adam Jones (Wales)
Assistant referees: Ben Breakspear (Wales), Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
TMO: Keith David (Wales)
