Dragons fightback comes up just short
A spirited second-half comeback came up just short as Edinburgh Rugby lost to Dragons 24-17 at the Principality Stadium earlier this afternoon.
Trailing 24-5 at the break, the capital side scored all the points (12) in a brilliant second-half showing that was spearheaded by several young up-and-comers
FOSROC Academy duo Patrick Harrison (18) and Shaun Gunn (23) both made their professional debuts, while back-row Connor Boyle (21) and centre Matthew Currie (20) impressed from the bench and provided several impactful moments in defence.
Eventual Player of the Match Matthew Screech scored two of Dragons’ tries and Jonah Holmes the other, with Sam Davies adding three conversions and a penalty.
Edinburgh, who had 27 players unavailable for selection, responded with tries from Mesu Kunavula, Charlie Shiel and Blair Kinghorn, with the latter adding a conversion.
Not just content with a losing bonus-point, Richard Cockerill's young side pushed for a last-minute match equaliser, but Dragons held on to secure the win at the death.
Match action
Davies missed an opportunity to give Dragons a second-minute lead as his 40-metre penalty attempt sailed wide.
However, it mattered little as Dragons soon had their first try. Strong runs from Ashton Hewitt and Holmes took the hosts into the opposition 22, from where Screech peeled off a maul to score.
Within minutes, Screech had scored a second. From inside their own half, Dragons produced a flowing move which culminated in Davies making a sharp break before off-loading to send Screech over.
Edinburgh were struggling to cope with a fired-up Dragons and they lost lock Jamie Hodgson to a yellow card, with Davies kicking the resulting penalty for a 17-0 lead at the end of a one-sided first quarter.
From their first real period of pressure, the capital side got themselves on the scoreboard when Kunavula crashed over from close range but they then suffered an injury setback when Scotland international fly-half Jaco van der Walt was forced to leave the field with a dead leg.
Dragons scored an excellent third try when good linking between backs and forwards culminated in Davies sending out a loop pass to Holmes, who raced into the corner.
A length-of-the-field movement then saw Hewitt denied by the touch-line but Dragons still held a 24-5 interval lead.
Hewitt’s disallowed try seemed to take the impetus from Dragons as the third quarter was spent mostly in their half, with Edinburgh proving stubborn opponents.
Edinburgh earned their reward when first replacement scrum-half Shiel quickly took a short penalty to race away and score before Kinghorn added their third try shortly afterwards.
The full-back - playing stand-off - was impressive all afternoon and his score was thing of beauty. After feeding Chris Dean with an inside ball, Kinghorn showed brilliant work rate as a trialing runner, collecting Dean's offload before racing under the sticks.
Kinghorn converted from in front of the posts to secure a losing bonus point for his side before Edinburgh spent the final five minutes of the fixture pushing for an equalising try.
The comeback was not to be however with Dragons defending well and holding on the seven-point victory.
live commentary 2:00 PM Sunday 28 Mar 2021
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Dragons
-
Nick Tompkins
23. Replacement7metres made
13MINUTES PLAYED
5TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
-
Evan Lloyd
22. Replacement0metres made
0MINUTES PLAYED
0TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Rhodri Williams
21. Replacement6metres made
24MINUTES PLAYED
2TACKLES MADE
23COMPLETE PASSES
-
Ben Fry
20. Replacement0metres made
7MINUTES PLAYED
4TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Ben Carter
19. Replacement0metres made
30MINUTES PLAYED
10TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Leon Brown
18. Replacement0metres made
25MINUTES PLAYED
6TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
-
Greg Bateman
17. Replacement12metres made
20MINUTES PLAYED
7TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
-
Elliot Dee
16. Replacement31metres made
68MINUTES PLAYED
13TACKLES MADE
7COMPLETE PASSES
-
Ross Moriarty
8. Number 830metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
12TACKLES MADE
7COMPLETE PASSES
-
Harrison Keddie
7. Back-row3metres made
73MINUTES PLAYED
13TACKLES MADE
4COMPLETE PASSES
-
Aaron Wainwright
6. Back-row11metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
14TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
-
Matthew Screech
5. Second-row44metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
17TACKLES MADE
5COMPLETE PASSES
-
Joseph Davies
4. Second-row2metres made
50MINUTES PLAYED
5TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
-
Lloyd Fairbrother
3. Tighthead prop5metres made
55MINUTES PLAYED
11TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
-
Richard Hibbard
2. Hooker0metres made
12MINUTES PLAYED
1TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Brok Harris
1. Loosehead prop6metres made
60MINUTES PLAYED
11TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
-
Gonzalo Bertranou
9. Scrum-half30metres made
56MINUTES PLAYED
4TACKLES MADE
58COMPLETE PASSES
-
Sam Davies
10. Stand-off34metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
7TACKLES MADE
29COMPLETE PASSES
-
Ashton Hewitt
11. Wing84metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
6TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
-
Jack Dixon
12. Inside-centre26metres made
67MINUTES PLAYED
9TACKLES MADE
5COMPLETE PASSES
-
Aneurin Owen
13. Outside-centre14metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
13TACKLES MADE
6COMPLETE PASSES
-
Jonah Holmes
14. Wing40metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
2TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Jordan Williams
15. Full-back40metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
3TACKLES MADE
8COMPLETE PASSES
Edinburgh
-
Blair Kinghorn
15. Full-back105metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
6TACKLES MADE
25COMPLETE PASSES
-
Jack Blain
14. Wing18metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
3TACKLES MADE
4COMPLETE PASSES
-
Mark Bennett
13. Outside-centre88metres made
79MINUTES PLAYED
3TACKLES MADE
4COMPLETE PASSES
-
Chris Dean
12. Inside-centre86metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
10TACKLES MADE
10COMPLETE PASSES
-
Eroni Sau
11. Wing59metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
5TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
-
Jaco van der Walt
10. Stand-off3metres made
28MINUTES PLAYED
3TACKLES MADE
5COMPLETE PASSES
-
Henry Pyrgos
9. Scrum-half15metres made
50MINUTES PLAYED
1TACKLES MADE
42COMPLETE PASSES
-
Murray McCallum
1. Loosehead prop9metres made
67MINUTES PLAYED
14TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
-
Sam Kitchen
2. Hooker8metres made
57MINUTES PLAYED
7TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
-
Lee Roy Atalifo
3. Tighthead prop1metres made
57MINUTES PLAYED
10TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
-
Marshall Sykes
4. Second-row0metres made
68MINUTES PLAYED
9TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
-
Jamie Hodgson
5. Second-row0metres made
70MINUTES PLAYED
17TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
-
Magnus Bradbury
6. Back-row4metres made
52MINUTES PLAYED
9TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
-
Luke Crosbie
7. Back-row9metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
14TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
-
Mesulame Kunavula
8. Number 829metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
7TACKLES MADE
7COMPLETE PASSES
-
Patrick Harrison
16. Replacement2metres made
23MINUTES PLAYED
6TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
-
Shaun Gunn
17. Replacement0metres made
13MINUTES PLAYED
2TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Angus Williams
18. Replacement0metres made
23MINUTES PLAYED
6TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Andries Ferreira
19. Replacement0metres made
12MINUTES PLAYED
1TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Connor Boyle
20. Replacement1metres made
28MINUTES PLAYED
4TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
-
Charlie Shiel
21. Replacement46metres made
30MINUTES PLAYED
1TACKLES MADE
57COMPLETE PASSES
-
Matthew Currie
22. Replacement21metres made
52MINUTES PLAYED
5TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
-
George Taylor
23. Replacement0metres made
1MINUTES PLAYED
0TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
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