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Both sides have a player sent off as Cardiff edge to victory over the Dragons
By PA
Cardiff’s Owen Lane and Dragons’ Rhys Lawrence were both shown red cards for high challenges as the Blues edged their PRO 14 Rainbow Cup clash 17-16.
There was little between the teams but Dragons will rue a host of missed opportunities when their opponents were down to 13 men for a 10 minute period in the second half.
Josh Adams and Teddy Williams scored tries for Blues. Ben Thomas kicked a penalty and a conversion with Jarrod Evans adding a conversion.
Lawrence scored Dragons’ only try with Sam Davies kicking three penalties and a conversion.
It took Adams only 11 minutes to celebrate his Lions call-up by scoring the opening try of the game. Blues built up a sustained period of pressure with strong bursts from Jason Harries and Rhys Carre before a well-judged pass from Thomas sent Adams over.
Dragons then suffered two further blows. First Matthew Screech, a Cardiff player next season, departed with an injury before Davies was off target with a straightforward penalty attempt.
Thomas extended Blues’ lead with a simple penalty to give his side a 10-0 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
Thomas blotted his copybook by over-kicking a penalty into the dead ball area so Blues lost 45 metres and their opponents were able to enjoy a period of territorial domination.
The Gwent side threatened the try-line but lacked the accuracy to capitalise and the only score of the second quarter was a Davies penalty from the last kick of the half.
Five minutes after the restart Cardiff centre Lane was red-carded for a high challenge on Dragons scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou and the visitors immediately capitalised.
From a lineout 10 metres out, Dragons went through the phases before Lawrence forced his way over with a conversion from Davies bringing the scores level.
Dragons should then have taken the lead but they chose not to take three points from a kickable penalty in favour of a more attacking option but it proved the wrong call as they blew their opportunity.
They learnt their lesson as Davies kicked the next penalty as Blues introduced international backs, Evans and Willis Halaholo, in an attempt to reverse their fortunes.
It did not pay immediate dividends as Cardiff were reduced to 13 when Harries was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on.
Davies kicked his third penalty before Harris returned in time to see his side regain the lead when their replacement Williams crashed over and Evans succeeded with the crucial conversion.
Dragons replacement hooker Lawrence was then sent off for a high challenge before Davies was wide with a penalty attempt from inside his own half.
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Latest Comments
I didn't mean to sound down on Dmac. Just looking hard at the bench sub's role of providing impact. I don't think he can do that at 15, and the bench is not really about injury cover anymore (you need to maximise it's use more than that).
He's my first choice of any New Zealander for the 10 jersey with the All Blacks.
Go to commentsAgreed. And I don't have much more to say on it, but I had been having one thought that sprang to mind at the tail of this discussion, and that is that it's not all about Razor.
It's not about any coach being "right". I think a lot of selections can become defense and while it doesn't really apply here I really enjoyed that Andy Farrell just gave into the public demands and changed out his team for the change that had been asked for. Like why not? This is the countries team, keep them engaged. The whole reason i've only just finished watching the game was because I wasn't interested in watching any of the selected players against a team like Italy (still actually enjoyed the first half with the contest Italy made of it).
Faz leap frogs a younger half back into start. He hands the golden child the game over July's golden child. He gives an old winger a go, a new flanker and hooker. None of them really did any good, certainly not enough to suggest they should have been promoted above others, but who cares? You won, and you gave the country what they wanted, that's all that matters after all. It's for the country, not the one in charge who thinks they have to have their own pied piper tune playing.
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