Battling Dragons denied as post is home side’s villain
THE 14-man Dragons failed to sign off at Rodney Parade for the season with a win as Sam Davies missed two late drop-goals.
Tries from Aaron Wainwright and Jared Rosser, as well as the boot of Will Reed, gave them hope despite losing lock Matthew Screech to a red card in the first half. But it wasn’t to be, as they failed to convert a number of late chances.
Having not won in the United Rugby Championship since October, their final home clash of the season – as bizarre as that seems coming in early March – would have been one that Dai Flanagan’s men had circled in the calendar to target.
They had been boosted by the release of Wales Six Nations squad members Leon Brown, Bradley Roberts and Wainwright. All three were thrown into a pack consisting entirely of Wales internationals, providing a solid base for Flanagan’s side.
It was the visitors who took the lead, with David Hawkshaw opening the scoring from the tee after nine minutes.
However, it was the Dragons who claimed the first try. Hooker Roberts carried well before getting the ball to Ashton Hewitt, who raced into the Connacht 22 before being dragged down. However, the ball was flung out to Wainwright to score.
The lead wouldn’t last long, with the Galway side forging ahead on 21 minutes after blindside Cian Prendergast ran a hard line, allowing him to canter away from the defence and reach out to touch down.
The boot of Dragons fly-half Reed levelled the scores, before their hopes of victory took a hefty blow. Just after the halfhour mark, they lost two men simultaneously.
Centre Max Clark was sent to the sin-bin after killing a Connacht attack near his own line. However, worse was to follow as the TMO picked up a high shot from Screech on Conor Oliver, with the lock receiving a red card.
Connacht No. 8 Paul Boyle looked to have immediately
DRAGONS.......................20 CONNACHT.....................22 powered over from a scrum, only for the TMO to show he was held up.
Having survived that, the Dragons managed to keep the scores level until the break despite the two-man disadvantage.
Connacht started the second half on the attack, quickly finding themselves in the home 22 and probing for a way through. However, one long pass saw Dragons wing Rosser pick it off and racing the length of the pitch to score.
Minutes later, Reed extended the lead to 10 points after Ross Moriarty was hit high.
Back came Connacht. With centre Clark packing down on the flank, the Dragons were helpless as the men in green pushed them off their own scrum right on their line. From there, replacement Jarrad Butler was able to pick up and score.
Just after the hour mark, Connacht moved ahead again, powering over from a driving lineout with Caolin Blade at the back to score. That moved them two points ahead.
From there, the Dragons had chances. Replacement fly-half Davies pushed a penalty wide moments later.
Soon after, the numbers were levelled out as Connacht wing Shayne Bolton was sin-binned for poleaxing Angus O’Brien with a tackle in the air.
O’Brien brushed off the incident, landing a superb 50:22 that handed the home side prime attacking position. From the lineout, O’Brien nearly got over on one touchline, before Hewitt was held up as they worked it back the other way.
The Dragons kept pushing for a score that would win it. With four minutes left, a snap drop-goal from Davies agonisingly hit the uprights.
Minutes later, he tried again – but the attempt was rushed and the effort sailed wide of the sticks.