Boss Filo Tiatia hailed the ‘character and grit’ of his Dragons as they staged a dramatic fightback to claim a 15-15 draw with Benetton in the BKT United Rugby Championship at Rodney Parade.
Tongan ace Fine Inisi dived over in the final seconds to snatch two points – with captain Angus O’Brien seeing a tough touchline conversion kick to win just slide wide.
Tiatia’s men had been playing catch-up throughout the clash and saw Levi Douglas – a first half try scorer – get a 20-minute red card alongside a yellow for Inisi as they played with 13 men for a period.
But the Men of Gwent dug deep to repel the Italians before – after a penalty try was disallowed – they scored with the final play to a thunderous ovation.
“I’m very proud of the second half performance,” said Tiatia. “I was proud of the first half too, but I thought we left a few points on the pitch.
“The character and the grit, the scrap and wanting to fight and stay in it, was excellent.
“We have been working on it, the mentality of wanting to protect something. You do it or you don’t. You can see signs that they are a tight group.
“The young guys that came on can be proud of their effort too. Love (Evan) Minto when he came on, Jordan (Morris) and Owain (James) too. I am proud of where they are.
“The only thing I said to the group afterwards was the silver lining is we get two points out of this. We’ve got to keep fighting and working to come away with the wins.”
Dragons lost Number Eight Shane Lewis-Hughes and scrum half Che Hope in the opening ten minutes to injury while fly half Tinus de Beer was also taken off at the break.
“I am not too sure on the injuries yet,” admitted Tiatia. “I’ll go in the sheds and find out but we have got to be pretty agile now, guys need to be sharp and ready to go.
“Players will get an opportunity with injuries, and we have a bit of work to do.
“We have a couple of hit out with other clubs in the next two weeks to try and stay sharp before we go to Africa.”
The character and the grit, the scrap and wanting to fight and stay in it, was excellent... We have been working on it, the mentality of wanting to protect something...
