CARDIFF HOLD ON AFTER CARD
CARDIFF claimed the spoils in a thoroughly entertaining Welsh derby despite having star centre Rey Lee Lo sent off.
The home side spent almost half the match down to 14 men, with Lee Lo’s 52nd-minute red card for a shoulder to the head of Sam Davies following the first-half sin-binning of Lloyd Williams.
But they managed to hold on for the win, with the boot of 14-point flyhalf Jarrod Evans ultimately proving the difference in an eventful contest where they were outscored by four tries to three, with the Dragons securing two losing bonus points with a last-gasp touchdown.
Both sides were significantly depleted due to having players away with Wales preparing for the autumn international campaign, but it was still fine fare for an Arms Park crowd of 8,194.
When the game got under way it was the visitors who came flying out of the traps, opening the scoring after just a couple of minutes with a really well-constructed try.
Going through a succession of phases in a sustained attack, they stretched the home defence to breaking point, with hooker Taylor Davies delivering the finish from close range and Sam Davies adding the conversion.
Cardiff responded with a penalty from fit-again fly-half Evans, but were then reduced to 14 men when his half-back partner Lloyd Williams was yellow-carded for a high tackle on Jordan Williams.
The Dragons took their time to capitalise on their extra man, but they eventually managed it, with their Fijian tighthead prop Mesake Doge crashing over.
Full-back Jordan Williams would have been a relieved man to see Doge touch down as he had spurned a twoman overlap in the build-up, going for the line himself.
Sam Davies’ conversion made it 14-3, but, as soon as they were restored to their full complement, Cardiff hit back as Lloyd Williams went from villain to hero.
Within a minute of returning from the sin-bin, the Welsh international scrum-half dummied and sniped over for a try, with referee Ben Whitehouse awarding the score after checking the grounding.
Evans added the conversion and a subsequent penalty to cut the deficit to a point as the home side’s dominance in the scrum began to tell.
Then two minutes before the break, the try scorer turned try creator, with Lloyd Williams putting in an intelligent chip from a ruck and Hallam
Amos winning the foot race to the ball and touching down against his former region.
That made it 18-14 to Cardiff at the end of a frenetic and enthralling first half.
The Dragons looked to have gone back in front when flanker Ben Fry crossed in the right corner four minutes into the second period.
But, after reviewing video footage following howls of protest from the home fans, referee Whitehouse ruled out the score due to wing Rio Dyer making contact with an airborne Matthew Morgan in the build-up.
It was to prove a busy period for Whitehouse.
His next duty was to award a penalty try to the home side for the Dragons illegally bringing down a maul that was heading for the whitewash.
Then, on 52 minutes, after watching numerous replays, he issued a red card to Samoan centre Lee Lo for making contact to the head of Sam Davies with his shoulder in a tackle.
Following an exchange of penalties, the Dragons succeeded in exploiting their extra man behind as some simple passing put Dyer over in the left corner on the hour mark.
They weren’t to score again until the final play, but it was to prove a valuable footnote, with lock Joe Maksymiw touching down to earn them those two losing bonus points.
CARDIFF: Matthew Morgan; Jason Harries, Rey Lee-Lo, Max Llewellyn, Hallam Amos; Jarrod Evans, Lloyd Williams; Corey Domacowski, Kirby Myhill, Dmitri Arhip, Matthew Screech, Rory Thornton, Josh Turnbull (capt), Will Boyde, James Ratti.
REPLACEMENTS: Kristian Dacey, Brad Thyer, Will Davies-King, Teddy Williams, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Ellis Bevan, Dan Fish, Garyn Smith.
DRAGONS: Jordan Williams; Jonah Holmes, Jack Dixon, Aneurin Owen, Rio Dyer; Sam Davies, Rhodri Williams; Aki Seiuli, Taylor Davies, Mesake Doge, Joe Davies, Joe Maksymiw, Harrison Keddie (capt), Ben Fry, Ollie Griffiths.
REPLACEMENTS: Ellis Shipp, Greg Bateman, Chris Coleman, Huw Taylor, Dan Baker, Gonzalo Bertranou, Josh Lewis, Jared Rosser.
REFEREE: Ben Whitehouse (WRU).