Dragons complete Italian job as they get back into action

THE Dragons haven’t played for four weeks, but it didn’t show with a solid away victory in Italy against Benetton.

The Gwent outfit haven’t played since their November 1 clash with Munster, after being shut down for two weeks following a number of positive coronavirus tests.

On their return to Guinness PRO14 action, tries from Ashton Hewitt, Jamie Roberts and Rhodri Williams got the job done for Dean Ryan’s men.

Sam Davies opened the scoring with a penalty early on, only for Benetton prop Cherif Traore to cross for the game’s first try on 14 minutes..

Davies added another penalty to close the gap before Hewitt came off his wing to great effect to cross for the Dragons’ first.

Hame Faiva went over for the hosts’ second score to put them back in front, only for the Dragons to hit back almost immediately as Hewitt put Roberts over.

Benetton thought they had regained the lead just before the break, only for Leonardo Sarto’s try to be chalked off.

The second-half saw the Dragons turn the screw, with another penalty from Davies and a try from Williams putting them further ahead.

They might have won by more, with Owen Jenkins having a try of his own chalked off late on.

Benetton duly went and scored themselves through Tommaso Menoncello, but it made little difference to the result, with the Dragons able to be proud of an impressive away victory after some time out of action.

BENETTON: Tries: C Traore, H Faiva, T Menoncello. Cons: I Keatley (2). DRAGONS: Tries: A Hewitt, J Roberts, R Williams; Cons: S Davies; Pens: S Davies (3).