Improving Russians fired up against Dragons

DRAGONS edged out Lyn Jones’ Russia side in a closely-fought match which provided nine tries at Bedwas.

The Dragons led from the 15th minute but were pushed hard until Dafydd Howells’ fine late score.

Deon Smith, Rhys Lawrence, Ben Fry, Rhodri Davies, and captain Jack Dixon also crossed with Josh Lewis converting three and Evan Lloyd one.

Alexander Ilin (2) and Anton Sychev scored Russian tries with Ramil Gaisin adding nine points.

Both sides fielded muchchanged line-ups with Jones making 13 changes from a win over Namibia for only his second match in charge, while his former employers also gave their youngsters a chance.

Dragons assistant coach Ian Evans said: “It was a bit of a mixture, first half we were pretty good with territory and in the second half we were a bit lucky, but all in all pretty positive.

“Ben Fry really excelled for a youngster, Ryan Bevington and Aaron Jarvis showed their experience and Daf Howells showed glimpses of what he can do, getting his hands on the ball with that try.

“Lyn Jones is a quality coach, Russia are a welldrilled team and they’re only going to get better the more time they spend together and play good quality opposition.”

Russia coach Jones said: “A game of that competitive level is a hundred times better than six training sessions, we learned so much and it was a real challenge for the players.

“Technically we knew we’d struggle in the front five, so it proved and that was the difference but we showed enterprise and fight, we’re delighted.

“A lot of these guys have never played for Russia before, they were nervous coming on but we’ve got to start somewhere and the game was invaluable.”

Meanwhile Dragons wing Ashton Hewitt, who was forced to drop out of Wales’ summer tour through injury, has undergone more shoulder surgery which will keep him out for several months.