SAM’S BOOT CRUCIAL IN DRAGONS WIN
SAM Davies kicked 16 points as the Dragons pulled off a morale-boosting 26-17 victory over Glasgow Warriors at the Principality Stadium. With this win, the Gwent region pulled level with fourth-placed Glasgow on 25 points in the Guinness PRO14’s Conference A, with each team having one game to play.
Jordan Williams and Matthew Screech scored tries for the Dragons, with Davies kicking four penalties and two conversions.
Fraser Brown and Rufus McLean touched down for Glasgow, while Adam Hastings kicked a penalty and two conversions.
The hosts took a seventh-minute lead with a straightforward penalty from Davies, but received a setback when flanker Ollie Griffiths departed with an arm injury.
Replacement Ben Fry lasted only two minutes before his no-arms tackle saw him sent to the sin-bin.
Glasgow immediately capitalised with a strong line-out drive to create a try for Brown.
Hastings converted before he joined Fry in the sin-bin for a high tackle on Dragons wing Ashton Hewitt. It was Hastings’ first match back after serving a three-match suspension.
Davies kicked the resulting penalty before both sides lost players through injury, with Jamie Roberts and Glasgow lock Kiran McDonald departing.
The Dragons appeared to have scored their first try when scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou quickly took a penalty to dart away before crashing over.
In the process he was challenged by opposite number Sean Kennedy and the TMO ruled that the ball had slipped from the player’s grasp.
Davies regained the lead for his side with his third penalty before McLean scored one of the tries of the season as he raced in from 80 metres.
Hastings converted before adding a penalty to give Glasgow a 17-9 interval lead.
Three minutes after the restart, Glasgow captain Ryan Wilson was yellow-carded for collapsing a maul before Davies kicked his fourth penalty.
Rhodri Williams came on for his 100th PRO14 appearance and immediately the hosts produced a superb try when skilful passing put Jordan Williams in the clear and the fullback made no mistake with some incisive running.
That was the spur the Dragons needed as they soon added another when Screech forced his way over from close range.
With four minutes remaining Rhodri Williams was sin-binned for a deliberate offside, but determined defence from the hosts kept their line intact.