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After 65 days of struggles, the Dragons have secured their first victory of 2021
By PA
The Dragons have secured their first win of 2021 with a hard-fought 31-20 victory over the Ospreys in Bridgend.
Tries from Jonah Holmes (2), Ashton Hewitt (2) and Aaron Wainwright along with six points from the boot of Sam Davies clinched a bonus-point victory for the visitors.
A brace of tries from Kieron Williams and 10 points from Stephen Myler was all the Ospreys could muster.
The Ospreys made a strong start as they applied a large amount of pressure in the Dragons 22 which forced their hosts into conceding numerous penalties.
Such a one-sided penalty count resulted in referee Craig Davies sending second-row Joe Davies to the sin bin for an early push in the lineout.
It was the visitors, against the run of play, who scored the game’s first try. The ball was spun wide to Hewitt from a strong scrum, with a powerful surge from Wainwright breaching the Ospreys defence to allow the Wales international to score, which Davies converted.
After a Myler penalty went over, The Ospreys continued to lay siege to the Dragons try line and finally got their just rewards when Williams hit a terrific line to power over the whitewash from short range with some assistance from Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler.
Myler converted and the Ospreys turned around with a slender 10-7 lead at the interval.
The Dragons started the second half strongly with a powerful break from Wainwright releasing scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou, who drew his man to put Holmes over for their second try.
But the Ospreys hit back immediately. An incisive break from Dan Evans put the hosts on the front foot before the full-back released Reuben Morgan-Williams, who put inside centre Williams over for his brace of tries.
The Ospreys held a five-point lead but the Dragons refused to give in as they started to build pressure in the home side’s 22.
A powerful driving lineout forced second-row Rhys Davies to illegally sack the lineout, leaving the referee with no choice but to award a yellow card.
The Dragons made the most of their numerical advantage with Hewitt sneaking in at the far left-hand corner.
Myler nudged the Ospreys back ahead with a regulation penalty but Dragons full-back Josh Lewis found a weak spot in their defence as he ghosted through a huge hole.
The former Bath man drew his man before putting Holmes over for his second score.
The Dragons sealed an unlikely win with Hewitt slicing through the Ospreys defence after a superb no-look pass from Rhodri Williams to run in unopposed from 40 metres out with Davies converting.
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Latest Comments
wel the crusaders were beaten by a queensland reds side that hadnt beaten them at home since 1999 and queensland reds partied like it was 1999
Go to commentsThink it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
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