DRAGONS 10, STORMERS 24

THE Dragons to the Stormers on a frustrating Friday at Rodney Parade.

After a scrappy first 15 minutes, the Stormers took the lead through the boot of fly-half Manie Libbok with a penalty.

But then the visitors lost captain Salamaan Moerat for 10 minutes after he was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Taine Basham and the Dragons made hay.

They upped the tempo and looked threatening, and it eventually told when Sam Davies produced a deft grubber kick for Josh Lewis to latch onto for the opening try.

Davies converted and added a penalty on the half-hour mark when the Stormers were pinged for not rolling away.

Minutes later, there was concern shown for Wales international Elliot Dee, who appeared to suffer an innocuous neck problem at a scrum that didn’t collapse. The stretcher was waved away, though, and he left the field on his own steam after five minutes’ worth of treatment.

The Stormers added two quick penalties late in the half as the Dragons’ discipline crumbled but Dean Ryan’s side still held a 10-9 lead at the break.

The visitors started the second half fastest and the game was played almost exclusively in the Dragons half for the third quarter of the match, with the Stormers dominating possession.

After a number of scrums in the hosts’ 22, the pressure eventually told in the 65th minute despite some big defence from the irrepressible Basham.

Gelant found space in behind with a lovely little grubber and winger Leolin Zas raced through to score and give his side the lead, though the conversion was missed.

Seven minutes from time, Libbok knocked over another penalty when Dragons full-back Lewis got isolated and the gap was seven.

The Dragons had a scrum in their visitors’ 22 in the final minute of the match but they lost control of the ball and the South Africans hoofed the ball clear for Zas to score his second of the night.