DRAGONS SAVOUR EARLY TRY BLITZ
THE Dragons ended their season on a high as three early tries set up a Judgement Day victory over the Scarlets at the Principality Stadium. With a European semi-final to play for next week and nothing left on the line in the United Rugby Championship, there was always the danger that the Scarlets would struggle to get up for the final day of the season in Cardiff, but few would have expected such a a slow start.
Tries from Elliot Dee, Jordan Williams and Sio Tomkinson handed the Rodney Parade outfit their first league win since October. The Scarlets threatened a comeback of sorts with scores from Kieran Hardy and Carwyn Tuipulotu, but Steff Hughes’ late score ensured it was a comfortable bonus point victory for the Dragons.
A Judgement Day press conference last week was attended by all but one of the four professional sides. The Scarlets, through bad traffic, didn’t make it. For a while, you were left wondering if the M4 had ground to a halt again as the early stages provided no evidence of the Scarlets turning up again.
For 20 minutes, any fears over whether the Scarlets’ vision would be pulled in two different directions proved to be false, if only not in the way the West Walians would have hoped. Rather than attention being fully on what was unfolding in Cardiff, it felt as if more than one eye was on the looming Challenge Cup semifinal against Glasgow.
Dwayne Peel’s side had barely touched the ball when Vaea Fifita was sin-binned for a shove to the head of Aaron Wainwright. Dai Flanagan’s men took advantage immediately, with Dee forcing his way over from a driving lineout.
They added a second almost immediately, spreading the ball wide from a turned-over lineout to Rio Dyer. He skinned Ryan Conbeer, before giving it back inside to Williams to score.
The Dragons would have a third 10 minutes later, with centre Tomkinson quickest to react from a tap penalty to sneak over.
Down by 21 points, the Scarlets did wake up a little. From a scrum, Wales scrum-half Hardy somehow forced his way over through a sea of bodies to get the Scarlets on the board.
As he did so, Dafydd Iwan’s anthem Yma o Hyd was played into the stadium. The English translation of the Welsh folk song that has long been adopted by the West Walians – ‘Still here’ – was a useful reminder that the Scarlets were in fact present at Judgement Day.
As the opening 40 minutes wore on, they improved – but not enough to add any points. By the time halftime rolled around, Peel was stood at the head of the Principality Stadium’s makeshift tunnel in the press box, calling his players in – partly as a reminder of where they were going, but also a sign that he was far from happy in the performance.
The team-talk had an effect of sorts. They weren’t as bad as the firsthalf, but they weren’t much improved either.
Angus O’Brien stretched the Dragons’ lead with a long-range penalty early into the second-half. From there, genuine chances for either were few and far between.
The Rodney Parade side didn’t need to throw too many jabs while so far ahead, while the detail was lacking in what the Scarlets were doing. Usually so prolific with ball in hand, little errors afflicted them throughout. Throw in some solid scramble defence and a few big hits from those in black jerseys and it made for a frustrating afternoon for the Scarlets.
Tuipulotu crashed over for a score 10 minutes from time, but it was too little, too late as, in the final seconds, Hughes crossed against his old side to cap a fine end to a difficult season.