Title hopefuls too strong for Dragons

THE Dragons suffered a 40-7 defeat against Glasgow.

The Warriors led from the 30-second mark with Josh McKay and Stafford McDowall claiming tries in the opening four minutes.

Facundo Cordero also notched up a try on his long-awaited debut, while Will Reed claimed a consolation score for the visitors at Scotstoun.

There was little doubt about the outcome from the opening moments as the Warriors moved into second place in the BKT United Rugby Championship table.

Full-back McKay took a high ball on the 40-metre line and sidestepped two players to cross.

Ross Thompson added the first of his four conversions.

Franco Smith’s side soon got their second try after hooker Jonny Matthews won the ball from a Dragons line-out.

The hosts worked the ball to McDowall, who charged through.

The skipper was soon contributing at the other end as he held the ball up when the Welsh side’s pack crossed.

Much of the first half was scrappy, but Glasgow put the game beyond doubt just before the interval when McDowall passed outside to McKay to cross.

The home side repelled some early second-half pressure before securing the bonus point inside four minutes of the restart.

Henco Venter, Jamie Dobie and then Tom Jordan all made ground and Scotland Under-20 international Ben Afshar kept up with play to accept the pass to go over.

Matthew Screech touched down at the other end, but Dan Lydiate was penalised for obstruction and the try was disallowed on video evidence.

The Dragons were rewarded for their sporadic spells of pressure when replacement Reed wriggled over after taking a quick pass from Angus O’Brien, who added the conversion.

But the score only served to spark a strong finish from the home side.

A slick move ended with Duncan Weir playing a long pass out to the right wing for former Exeter player Cordero to go over.

Scotland centre McDowall capped an impressive display by crossing for the second time with five minutes left.