Basham rises to challenge as Dragons to victory ease
TAINE Basham couldn’t have picked a better time to notch his first hat-trick for the Dragons with new Wales head coach Wayne Pivac and forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys watching from the stands.
The 20-year-old may be just finding his feet in the professional game, but he looks to have a bright future. Many think he is an international in the making, but at the moment he just wants to get into the Dragons back row that includes Ross Moriarty and Aaron Wainwright.
Basham was here, there and everywhere as he helped steer the Dragons into a 28-10 interval lead. With the bonus-point in the bag, it was cruise control from there on in as the 2018 French champions were comfortably beaten.
Castres were first on the scoreboard thanks to an early penalty from outside half Ludo Radosavljevic, but then Basham got into action. He helped to convert two driving line-out tries and could have got his hattrick from a third.
In between those two efforts, the referee, JP Doyle, lectured home hooker Richard Hibbard and Castres lock Kevin Gimeno after an ugly brawl. Hibbard was furious but went on to punish the French side with a fantastic performance that earned him a standing ovation when he finally left the field after 75 minutes.
Dafydd Howells picked up a third home try when he snapped up a loose midfield pass to run in from near half-way. Davies converted and the Dragons had notched 21 points in 17 minutes and were well on their way to victory.
Castres bristled with power from the start, but tried to merely outmuscle their hosts. When they met with stern resistance, they had little to show for their efforts.
They responded to the early, three-try onslaught with one of their own midway through the firsthalf. The Dragons midfield were guilty of trying to overplay their hand and when a misdirected pass went to ground, Castres wing Taylor Paris nipped in to pick up the pieces and race to the posts for a converted try.
The Dragons didn’t despair and simply kept on playing. Then Basham got in on the act once again as he followed the Gareth Davies example for Wales by exploding off the defensive line and picking off a pass meant for Radosavljevic before sprinting 40 metres to score.
Davies added the conversion and it was 28-10 to the home side at the break. Castres were all at sea and the second half could have turned ugly for them.
To their credit they rolled up their sleeves and put the home side under mounting pressure. They won four penalties in succession in the Dragons 22, but failed to turn a succession of short range line-outs into points.
Something had to give and when JP Doyle finally decided there had been too many infringements from the home side, lock Max Williams saw yellow. Moments later, from a scrum in front of the home posts, Radosavljevic went over for a try that he converted near the hour mark.
In a game of so many penalties, 26 in total, it was obvious the Dragons would get another shot at goal if they could get some possession and field position.
They did that from the restart and once Mr Doyle’s arm went up, Davies slotted another penalty to end any hopes Castres may have had of mounting a miracle revival.
The final quarter was pointless as the Dragons defence remained strong. To pick up five points against a top flight Top 14 team is a great start to their Challenge Cup campaign, but now they have to go and do the same on the road in Russia next week to give themselves a chance of progressing further.
Their Welsh World Cup stars should be back for next month’s back-to-back clashes with Worcester Warriors to add further impetus.