Dragons RFC produced a devastating and commanding second half display as they wrapped up a 12-try 80-14 victory over Scarlets in pre-season at Church Bank in Llandovery.
A tight first half saw the Men of Gwent edge to a 19-14 lead courtesy of tries from Fine Inisi, Seb Davies and Harri Keddie.
But a ruthless second half show saw Dragons rattle up 61 unanswered points as Elliot Dee (2), Evan Minto, Tinus de Beer, Rhodri Willaims, Harry Rees-Weldon, Sam Scarfe and David Richards and Joe Westwood.
Boss Filo Tiatia rang the changes to get valuable minutes into his squad ahead of the BKT Unted Rugby Championship opener in Italy in two weeks’ time.
Che Hope and Robert Hunt made welcome returns, and the lively scrum half made an instant break inside the opening 30 seconds and fed a marauding Cai Evans as the visitors started on the front foot.
Evans and Rosser combined to make big yards down the left wing before Thomas Young showed great feet to step out of tackles and huge floated pass found Keddie who gave centre Inisi the chance to dot down with a quick inside pass.
Scarlets hit back with Ioan Jones going over in the corner after a quick ap penalty, while Levi Douglas who was taken off and replaced by Seb Davies.
A superb touch finder off a penalty from Tinus de Beer gave Dragons another attacking platform and Hunt and Davies rattled up close, but Woodman was held up over the line.
Scarlets were clinical at the other end as a lineout move eventually found loosehead Sam O’Connor who crashed over under pressure.
The visitors were enjoying most of the possession, but a spirited and well drilled Scarlets defence held them at arm’s length.
Pressure told and Dragons scored a second after a huge driving maul was stopped short, but Owain James and Jared Rosser continued to punch holes before replacement Davies touched down in the corner.
Stripped ball in the tackle and a kick ahead form Burrow set Rosser into space and he chased down the ball and forced Scarlets to hack into touch.
A slick lineout move saw Aneurin Owen bump off his opposite man and De Beer went close before co-captain Keddie smashed his way over by the posts for a 19-14 lead at the break.
Dragons made nine changes at the break and one of those, Elliot Dee, had an immediate impact as the driving lineout was crunched over and converted by De Beer.
A line break from Owen then sent Minto into space and the young Number Eight over as Dragons started to pull clear.
Another strong run from Owen pushed the Scarlets back and De Beer grabbed a score to cap a three-try burst after the break and eventually end the game as a contest.
A slick move from the backs secured try number seven as quick hands saw Anderson and Westwood put Rhodri Williams over untouched.
Dee scored a carbon copy of his early try with another driving maul powering over on the hour before wing Rees-Weldon showed all his finished skills with a big hand-off and cruise over as Dragons hot 40 unanswered points in 23 minutes.
Scarfe scored from another powerful maul three minutes after coming onto the field while Paea sent Richards over from a neat backs move.
The final flourish saw Westwood capitalise on a loose ball and hack through from Minto.
Timeline:
07m Inisi t Evans c 0-7
15m I. Jones t Anscombe c 7-7
25m O’Connor t Anscombe c 14-7
35m S. Davies t 14-12
40m Keddie t Evans c 14-19
41m Dee t De Beer c 14-26
46m Minto t De Beer c 14-33
49m De Beer t 14-38
57m R. Williams t J. Lloyd c 14-45
61m Dee t J. Lloyd c 14-52
63m Rees-Weldon t J. Lloyd c 14-59
67m Scarfe t J. Lloyd c 14-66
73m Richards t J. Lloyd c 14-73
77m Westwood t J. Lloyd c 14-80
Scarlets: Isaac Murray-Macgregor; Ioan Jones, Jac Davies, Gabe McDonald, Iori Badham; Gareth Anscombe, Archie Hughes; Sam O’Connor, George Roberts, Harri O’Connor, Gabe Cahsay, Jac Price, Tristan Davies, Dan Davis, Osian Williams.
Replacements: Harry Thomas, Josh Morse, Corey Domachowski, Gabe Hawley, Will Evans, Harvey Cuckson, Dom Kossuth, Tiaan Sparrow, Joe Denman, George Macdonald, Madoc Evans, Ioan Nicholas, Gryff Watkins, Jayden Brown, Callum Woolley.
Dragons RFC: Cai Evans, Rio Dyer (Rees-Weldon 50), Fine Inisi (Paea 50), Aneurin Owen (Westwood 50), Jared Rosser (Richards 40), Tinus de Beer (J. Lloyd 50), Che Hope (R. Williams 40 (M. Lloyd 63)); Rhodri Jones (Coleman 40), Oli Burrows (Dee 40 (Scarfe 64), Robert Hunt (James 21 (W. Jones 57), Levi Douglas (Davies 17), Barny Langton-Cryer (Screech 40), Ryan Woodman (Lewis-Hughes 40), Thomas Young (Beddall 40), Harri Keddie (Minto 40)
Replacements: Elliot Dee, Sam Scarfe, Wyn Jones, Chris Coleman, Owain James, Seb Davies, Matthew Screech, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Evan Minto, Harry Beddall, Morgan Lloyd, Rhodri Williams, Jac Lloyd, Fetuli Paea, Joe Westwood, Harry Rees-Weldon, Huw Anderson, David Richards
Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)
