De Beer boots Cardiff to win over Dragons

MATCH REPORT: Cardiff won the first Welsh derby of the season with a hard-fought 16-9 United Rugby Championship victory over Dragons at Rodney Parade.

In an attritional battle, it was left to Welsh international centre Mason Grady to score the only try of the game with Tinus De Beer adding three penalties and a conversion.

Three penalties from Angus O’Brien was the Dragons’ response.

After a scrappy opening period, O’Brien had the first chance for points and he made no mistake with a 10th-minute penalty.

However, Dragons soon suffered three blows in quick succession.

First Argentinean prop Rodrigo Martinez was forced to leave the field with an injury before De Beer kicked two simple penalties in quick succession to give his side a 6-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Dragons’ woes continued when flank Sean Lonsdale departed with an eye injury and matters could have been even worse if Theo Cabanago and Grady had not fluffed the first try-scoring opportunity of the game.

Harrison Keddie became the third Dragons forward to leave the field before De Beer surprisingly missed with a straightforward penalty.

Dragons had not fired a shot in the opening half-hour and it came as no surprise when Cardiff extended their lead when O’Brien attempted chip was charged down to leave Grady with a 45-metre run to the line.

De Beer converted before O’Brien kicked his second penalty to leave Dragons trailing 6-13 at the interval.

Within two minutes of the restart, Dragons missed a golden opportunity to reduce the arrears. A well-judged kick from Dane Blacker should have been collected by Jarrod Rosser to score but the wing was too hesitant and the chance was blown.

De Beer missed a penalty and apart from Rosser’s near-miss that was as close as either side came to scoring in the third quarter.

With 15 minutes remaining, De Beer was successful with a 45-metre penalty to seal victory for Cardiff with O’Brien late effort securing his side a scarcely deserved bonus-point.

Player of the Match
Cameron Winnett stood out as he easily dealt with Dragons’ kicking game by securing possession under the high ball. He also looked a potential threat in attack in a game which never flowed.

Play of the Match
Dragons’ supporters were irritated by the frequency at which their side kicked possession away. Angus O’Brien was the main culprit and he was made to pay when his needless chip was charged down to provide Mason Grady with a 45-metre run to score the only try of an error-ridden contest.

The scorers:

For Dragons:
Pens: O’Brien 3

For Cardiff:
Try: Grady
Con: De Beer
Pens: De Beer 3

Teams:

Dragons: 15 Jordan Williams, 14 Jared Rosser, 13 Sio Tomkinson, 12 Steff Hughes (captain), 11 Ashton Hewitt, 10 Angus O’Brien, 9 Dane Blacker, 8 Dan Lydiate, 7 Harri Keddie, 6 Sean Lonsdale, 5 Ben Carter, 4 Matthew Screech, 3 Lloyd Fairbrother, 2 Bradley Roberts, 1 Rodrigo Martinez.
Replacements: 16 James Benjamin, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Joe Davies, 20 George Nott, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Will Reed, 23 Jack Dixon.

Cardiff: 15 Cameron Winnett, 14 Aled Summerhill, 13 Mason Grady, 12 Willis Halaholo, 11 Theo Cabango, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Seb Davies, 7 Ellis Jenkins, 6 Alex Mann, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Liam Belcher (captain), 1 Corey Domachowski
Replacements: 16 Efan Daniel, 17 Rhys Carré, 18 Rhys Litterick, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 Thomas Young, 21 E Bevan, 22 Ben Thomas, 23 Harri Millard.

Referee: Frank Murphy
Assistant referees: Elgan Williams, Ben Connor
TMO: Mark Patton