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Dragons climb off bottom of URC after edging past Scarlets

By PA
Dragons head coach Dai Flanagan before the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and Dragons at the Kingspan Stadium in Belfast. (Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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1 Comment
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Simon 307 days ago

The weather was dreadful but the playing surface was great so there is no real excuse for such another poor standard of play from both sides. Dragons just the better team. But, what a shocking decision by the TMO not to award the Fifita try. This pretty much sums up Welsh rugby with poor teams and poor officials. The WRU have a lot of work to do and it needs to be done quickly to avoid rugby being lost to our future generations.

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Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
LONG READ
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