Sensational Dragons crush Connacht
Dragons RFC gave their boisterous fans an early Christmas present with a simply stunning 48-28 win over Connacht in the BKT United Rugby Championship at Rodney Parade.
A first half packed full of incredible action saw four tries for the hosts who raced into an early lead with a monstrous display.
Oli Burrows, Che Hope and Jared Rosser and a penalty try on the stroke of half-time put the home faithful in dreamland.
The second half carried on in the same with two further tries courtesy of Hope and Rio Dyer - who was rightly named player of the match after a show stopping display.
Cian Prendergast and Sean Jansen of Connacht notched up three late consolation tries but the Men of Gwent left Rodney Parade with a near perfect bonus point victory.
Connacht had taken an early lead when Sam Gilbert pulled a clever line from short range just shy of 10 minutes on the clock, with a further two points added from Gilbert’s boot.
Dragons, though, were level shortly after when hooker Burrows bulldozed his way over the whitewash from a quick tap penalty to grab his third try in four games.
Just eight minutes later the tide of the half turned directly into the hosts favour when Hope danced his way through a broken defensive line to put the Dragons ahead.
The young scrum half pounced on a disrupted lineout to find the gap and pin his ears to the try line with O’Brien adding a further two points from the boot.
A brilliant first forty-minutes only got better when Rosser finished off a beautifully worked set piece from the Dragons backline to dot down in the corner and extend the hosts lead.
The Dragons managed the remaining minutes of the first half in a perfect manner and were duly rewarded with a penalty try – with Paul Boyle sent to the sin bin - following a thundering driving maul from short range.
O’Brien kept the scoreboard ticking over with two penalties inside the opening five minutes of the second half before Dyer sped his way over the try line.
The speedster, who was on fire all game, finally got reward for his efforts when his arching run outside the Connacht defence opened a gap and he made no mistake with his diving finish.
Dyer wasn’t done, however, as he set up Hope’s second of the evening with some blistering pace down the touchline before finding the scrum half on a trademark support line.
Late efforts from the visitors were rewarded when Cian Prendergast grabbed a double and Sean Jansen crossed with the last play of the game – but it was no matter as Dragons celebrated a stunning show.
Timeline:
10m Gilbert t Gilbert c 0-7
18m Burrows t O’Brien c 7-7
25m Hope t O’Brien c 14-7
32m Rosser t O’Brien c 21-7
40m Penalty Try 28-7
42m O’Brien p 31-7
45m O’Brien p 34-7
51m Dyer t O’Brien c 41-7
61m Hope t O’Brien c 48-7
66m Prendergast t Gilbert 48-14
73m Prendergast t Gilbert c 48-21
80m Jansen t Gilbert c 48-28
Dragons RFC: Angus O’Brien (Anderson 62), Jared Rosser, Fine Inisi, Aneurin Owen (Westwood 62), Rio Dyer, Tinus de Beer, Che Hope (Williams 62); Rodrigo Martinez (Morris 53), Oli Burrows (Roberts 29), Robert Hunt (Dlamini 52), Levi Douglas (Lewis-Hughes 52), Ben Carter, Ryan Woodman, Harry Beddall, Harri Keddie (Young 56)
Replacements: George Roberts, Jordan Morris, Cebo Dlamini, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Thomas Young, Rhodri Williams, Joe Westwood, Huw Anderson
Connacht Rugby: Sam Gilbert, Chay Mullins, Cathal Forde, Bundee Aki, Shayne Bolton, Josh Ioane, Caolin Blade; Jordan Duggan, Dave Heffernan, Sam Illo, Darragh Murray, Niall Murray, Cian Prendergast, Seán O’Brien, Paul Boyle
Replacements: Dylan Tierney-Martin, Denis Buckley, Finlay Bealham, Josh Murphy, Sean Jansen, Ben Murphy, Jack Carty, Hugh Gavin
Referee: Ruairidh Campbell (SRU, debut)
Attendance: 4,188
