Dragons gifted victory by Cheetahs late call to run

A LAST minute penalty by Sam Davies kept Dragons’ slim hopes of an end of season play-off spot alive on a glue-pot of a pitch at Rodney Parade.

Davies had attempted to kick a penalty from inside his own half but it was off target so Cheetahs had the chance to take a draw and walk away with two valuable points.

Inexplicably, they chose to run it from behind their own line before losing possession with replacement, Chris Smit, yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on which allowed Davies to

succeed with a simple kick.

After Glasgow’s heavy defeat at Leinster on Friday night, Dragons badly needed to take advantage with a win to close the gap on the Scots and Cheetahs in Conference A but they certainly left it late in order to do so.

Cheetahs’ losing bonus point saw them remain in fourth position in the Pro 14 table but they still have every chance of securing a play-off spot with six of their nine remaining league fixtures at home in Bloemfontein.

The conditions were totally alien to a side based there but they competed fiercely and should have been rewarded with a share of the spoils.

Dragons director of rugby, Dean Ryan, said: “It was a bizarre decision by them and they just handed the four points to us.

“It wasn’t a smart performance from us as our line-out was poor and we struggled to get momentum. I was pleased with our first half effort but we struggled to make it count when we had the elements in our favour after the interval.”

Cheetahs suffered a prematch blow when their

skipper, Ruan Pienaar, withdrew with an injury but they soon overcame this setback to take an early lead.

A clearance from Dragons’ centre, Jack Dixon, was charged down and Junior Pokomela was on hand to force his way over.

Tian Schoeman converted before the hosts conceded three penalties in quick succession, the last of which Schoeman knocked over to give his side a ten point lead at the end of the first quarter.

A couple of basic handling errors from former Scarlets’ full-back, Clayton Blommetjies, gifted Dragons a foothold in the opposition 22 but they continued to infringe so the opportunity to score was lost.

Dragons remained scoreless until a minute after half-time when Davies kicked a simple penalty. Moments later, he was short with a more difficult effort.

Scoring points was never going to be easy in the swirling wind and frequent heavy showers but Dragons produced a couple of pieces of quality to draw level.

Outstanding flanker, Taine Basham, burst away from a lineout to make 30m before a well-judged kick from Dixon saw Jarrod Rosser take advantage of a half-hearted effort from Blommetjies to beat the full-back to the ball and score.

Davies converted but missed with a drop-goal attempt before his last minute success sent the crowd home happy.