Dragons embarassed by Lowly Zebre

THE DRAGONS’ torturous season hit a new low in Parma as they allowed basement club Zebre to claim a first win of the campaign.

Dean Ryan’s side have only beaten Connacht and Scarlets in the URC, while Zebre went into this having lost all 14 matches.

But there was no respite to be found for the Men of Gwent, who produced an error-strewn performance and were largely outgunned up front.

Dragons now have only Cardiff, Ospreys and Lions left to play and even their diehard supporters will be counting down the games

until the end of a torrid season.

The match turned on two Dragons yellow cards in two minutes just after the hour mark. Wing Jared Rosser went for clumsily dumping Zebre full-back Junior Laloifi dangerously to the floor. Then fly-half Sam Davies got his marching orders for cynically kicking away the ball from

a ruck on his own try line.

The double sin-binning left 13 of Ryan’s men holding the fort, and while the Italians made hard work of making the advantage count, they eventually got the breakthrough.

With the score at 18-18 – Davies’ offence had seen referee Chris Busby award a penalty try after the visitors had been 18-11 ahead – left wing Simone Gesi found space out wide to grab the winning touchdown.

It was a dramatic turnaround considering tries from Rosser and replacement scrum-half Lewis Jones early in the second half had put the Dragons in the driving seat.

Zebre claimed the opening try through hooker Luca Bigi in the 24th minute when he rumbled over from a rolling maul,

adding to two penalties from Antonio Rizzi.

Dragons had only two penalties from Sam Davies to show for their efforts in a disjointed and ill-disciplined opening 40 minutes.

Time and again they infringed at the breakdown and on the offside line, undermining attacking positions. By the end of the 80 minutes the Dragons had conceded 17 penalties, a tally which prevented them from building any prolonged periods of pressure.

It was a huge factor in allowing Zebre to record their first win in the league since a 26-15 against the Dragons back in February 2021. earlier fly-half