Leinster Rugby v Dragons

IN OPPOSITION
Dragons Rugby
Last Time Out
Dragons 16 Glasgow Warriors 27
Guinness PRO14 Rainbow Cup | Cardiff City Stadium | 29 May 2021
COUNTRY
DRAGONS SUFFERED A 27-16 DEFEAT AT THE HANDS OF THE
GLASGOW WARRIORS IN A HIGHLY PHYSICAL CONTEST
AT THE CARDIFF CITY STADIUM IN ROUND FOUR OF THE
GUINNESS PRO14 RAINBOW CUP.
WALES
HOME GROUND(S)
RODNEY PARADE
FOUNDED
2003
Eleven points from the boot of Sam
Davies plus a try from Aneurin Owen
wasn’t enough for the home side as
they suffered a third defeat of the
tournament.
Glasgow managed tries from Kyle Steyn,
George Turner, Kiran McDonald and Ross
Thompson scored one himself as well as adding
seven points with the boot to give the away side
revenge after suffering two losses to Dragons in
the Guinness PRO14 regular season.
The away side started the better and they tried
to set the tempo early with some quick phase
play, but a couple of unforced errors allowed
the Dragons to escape unscathed.
The away side thought they had the opening
score with Nick Grigg bundling his way over
just 10 minutes in after some good hands from
the Glasgow backline but it was brought back
for a penalty against recently announced Lion
Zander Ferguson for a forearm to the neck.
The Warriors clearly went to Wales to be
physical after being dominated in that area at
the Principality Stadium in April.
But after all Glasgow’s dominance in the
opening minutes it was the home side who
scored first with Owen bursting through a
gap in midfield and crossing the whitewash
after a strong lineout move. Davies added the
conversion and the home side led 7-0 after 13
minutes.
The next few minutes were more of the same
with Glasgow dominating territory but finding
no way past the Dragons defence with the
DRAGONS:
Ioan Davies; Jonah
Holmes, Jack Dixon,
Aneurin Owen, Rio
Dyer; Sam Davies,
Gonzalo Bertranou; Brok
Harris (Josh Reynolds
65), Richard Hibbard
(Elliot Dee 46), Lloyd
Fairbrother (Aaron Jarvis
60); Matthew Screech,
Ben Carter (Joe Davies
54), Ross Moriarty, Ollie
Griffiths (Taine Basham
60), Aaron Wainwright
GLASGOW WARRIORS:
Adam Hastings; Kyle Steyn,
Nick Grigg (Rufus McLean
60), Sam Johnson (Stafford
McDowall 70), Cole
Forbes; Ross Thompson, Ali
Price (George Horne 64);
Aki Seiuli (Tom Lambert
64), George Turner
(Fraser Brown 55), Zander
Fagerson (Enrique Pieretto
69); Rob Harley, Scott
Cummings; Ryan Wilson
(Kiran McDonald 60),
Rory Darge (Fotu Lokotui
78), Matt Fagerson.
Words: dragonsrugby.wales
Photos: inpho.ie
away side’s only opportunity in the opening
quarter coming from an ambitious Adam
Hastings drop goal which was way off the
mark.
Out-half Davies extended the home side’s
lead with a penalty off the tee, as Dragons
continued their efficiency when entering the
away side’s half by coming away with points.
Glasgow did manage to get their first points on
the board thanks to the boot of Thompson who
slotted home a penalty off the tee to narrow the
score to seven points.
But that didn’t last long as some strong
Glasgow defence forced Davies into a drop
goal and he made no mistake as he restored
the lead to 10 points on the half-hour mark,
making it 13-3 with 10 to go before half-time.
Glasgow finally got the try that their first half
performance deserved, after some sustained
pressure on the Dragons try line, they
eventually got it out wide with winger Steyn
scoring untouched in the corner.
Thompson missed the extras, but moments later
finished off a beautiful Glasgow team try after
some fantastic hands by the forwards following
a George Turner break around half-way.
The Glasgow fly half converted his own try
giving his side a 15-13 lead heading into
half-time, and Dragons were down to 14 with
captain Ross Moriarty sin-binned for a foul
in the build-up, in a very physical contest in
Cardiff.
Glasgow thought they started the second half
From The Ground Up | 74 | www.leinsterrugby.ie