Moments of madness are destroying us, says Ryan
DEAN Ryan said the Dragons were guilty of “moments of madness” after they became the first team to lose to Zebre all season.
It looked as though the visitors were going to claim their third league win of the campaign when they turned around a 11-6 half-time deficit to lead 18-11 in Parma thanks to tries from scrumhalf Lewis Jones and wing Jared Rosser.
But they then had Rosser and fly-half Sam Davies sin-binned in the space of two minutes, with Irish referee Chris Busby awarding a penalty try following Davies’ indiscretion, which saw the scores levelled.
Down to 13 men, the Dragons dug in but just before they were about to be reinforced, their resistance finally broke when wing Simone Gesi went over out. With just five minutes left, there was to be no way back.
“It’s another game that we get into a position where we have got control but then we have moments of madness,” said director of rugby Ryan.
“We go from a situation where we are in the lead to suddenly being down to 13 men and under the pump.
“It’s reinforcing the need for us to recruit into next year and at the same time try to develop others.
“I thought some of the youngsters that came on today certainly looked like they have got more to offer as we go forward.
“It’s that combination of youngsters and recruitment that will move us away from these types of games.
“We have got to take responsibility for what happened. The players have got to take responsibility for being a situation where we are in control to suddenly having to spend ten minutes with 13.
“This confirms where we are heading next year in terms of recruitment, and we will very quickly have to start threading
ZEBRE .............................. 23 DRAGONS ........................ 18 some of these youngsters in so they can grow from these experiences.”
After an exchange of penalties between Davies and opposite number Antonio Rizzi, it was the home side who claimed the opening try on 23 minutes when Test hooker Luca Bigi rounded off a maul that had rolled remorselessly to the line.
Trailing by five points at the break, the Dragons turned things around with two tries in the space of five minutes.
First, wing Rio Dyer sliced through on the right before giving an inside scoring pass to replacement scrum-half Jones. Then slick hands released Rosser down the left touchline and he stepped inside the last man to run around between the posts.
But on 63 minutes, Rosser went from hero to villain when he was yellow-carded for lifting an opponent and dumping him on his back over the touchline
And a minute later, Davies followed him to the bin for kicking the ball out of a Zebre player’s hands while on the deck near his own try-line. Referee Busby deemed it a cynical act and, after reviewing the replays, decided it had prevented a probable score, so gave a penalty try.
It was left to Gesi to produce the final decisive moment as the Dragons’ depleted defence was finally breached on what was a memorable day for Zebre.
The final whistle signalled scenes of jubilation among the Zebre players, who had lost all 18 of their previous games this season –14 in the URC and four in the Challenge Cup.
ZEBRE – Tries: Bigi, penalty try, Gesi. Pens: Rizzi (2).
DRAGONS – Tries: Jones, Rosser. Cons: S. Davies. Pens: S. Davies (2).