Gritty Dragons grind out bonus point win
BERNARD Jackman was delighted with his side’s resilience as the Gwent region recorded a bonus point victory over Bordeaux to keep their Challenge Cup hopes alive.
Tries from Elliott Dee, Cory Hill, Ashton Hewitt, Lloyd Fairbrother and Pat Howard fired Jackman’s side to victory.
Winger Fa’asiu Fuatai and Jules Gimbert grabbed Bordeaux’s tries in what was an entertaining affair in east Wales.
Jackman said: “When you aren’t winning, the mental toughness, resilience and self-belief can sometimes go. What we need to do is grind out wins.
“If you look between minutes 65 and 75 we were camped on our own line and even a penalty could have been disastrous. As you grind out wins you repair self-belief so this is an important win. We weren’t perfect as we made a lot of mistakes but it’s a step in the right direction.”
The French side opened the scoring with a simple penalty from Ben Volavola. The Dragons did well to claw their way back into the game, applying a lot of pressure on the Bordeaux defence. But, for all their pressure, the hosts had no points to show for their possession in the first quarter of the game.
The Dragons finally got points on the board when Wales hooker Elliot Dee powered over from short range for his eighth try of the season.
But Jackman’s side struggled when the game got tighter with Bordeaux blindside flanker Marco Tauleigne a stand-out with his dynamic ball carrying.
Bordeaux had an opportunity to retake the lead on the stroke of half-time but Volavola put his penalty wide leaving the hosts with a slender 5-3 lead.
The Dragons came out firing in the second half with Hill touching down after 45 minutes following a powerful scrum.
But just as the Dragons seemed to be getting a foothold in the game, Bordeaux hit back with two tries in four minutes. The first was scored by wing Fuatai following a period of sustained pressure.
Lively scrum-half Gimbert then put the visitors into the lead, touching down from short range. Gimbert made the initial break from halfway before offloading to Alexandre Roumat who surged towards the try-line before being taken down only for the scrum-half to touch down.
In a crazy turn of events the Dragons retook the lead when Hewitt went over following a charge down, with Gavin Henson converting from the touchline.
The Dragons then got their bonus point try when Fairbrother crashed his way over from short range before Howard sealed the win with a try at the death.
“We got beaten by a better side and a group of players that were prepared to go further than our players,” said Bordeaux coach Jeremy Davidson.
“Our players got taught a lesson about what hard work looks like. We just weren’t at the races tonight.”
It left Dragons needing two results to go their way last night – Stade Francais failing to beat Edinburgh and Brive winning without a bonus.