Defensive frailties costly for Dragons

DRAGONS will enter the Guinness PRO14 campaign without a moraleboosting win under their belt after their defensive deficiencies were ruthlessly exposed by Glasgow Warriors at Ebbw Vale.

It means the Gwent region, who were taken over by the Welsh Rugby Union for this season, have conceded 201 points and 31 tries in their four warm-up matches.

They went down 40-15 at French heavyweights Montpellier, 71-21 at Northampton Saints and 50-24 at Aviva Premiership champions Exeter Chiefs.

New coach Bernard Jackman, the former Ireland hooker, fielded a strong starting line-up against Glasgow and would have known the importance of notching up victory before facing Irish province Leinster in the PRO14 at Newport’s Rodney Parade next weekend. Dragons led with 29 minutes remaining but couldn’t contain the Glasgow attack, which exploited the gaps that appeared all too regularly.

It became an embarrassing rout in the second half against opponents nowhere near full-strength.

Dragons got off to a bright start with a penalty from outside-half Angus O’Brien putting them ahead.

They opened their try account in the 10th minute after Wales wing Hallam Amos put in a grubber-kick for chasing scrum-half Charlie Davies to gather and score; O’Brien tapping over the conversion to make it 10-0. Glasgow hit back quickly with a smart move from a lineout culminating in left-wing Rory Hughes crossing.

Outside-half Adam Hastings knocked over the conversion.

And it got better for Warriors when a delicious pass from lock Scott Cummings sent Scotland international Ruaridh Jackson cantering through.

O’Brien landed penalties either side of half-time to give the Dragons the lead for a second time. But it didn’t last long with Scotland international Peter Horne gliding through to put centre Nick Grigg over.

More tries came from the impressive Cummings, Sam Johnson and Patrick Kelly, leaving Jackman with much to ponder before facing his former province.