Corey’s late, late show steals a pulsating derby win for Cardiff
ALAST-GASP try from Corey Domachowski snatched victory for Cardiff against the Dragons in a pulsating and fiesty Boxing Day derby at Rodney Parade.
The Dragons were hoping to end a run of 14 defeats to the Arms Park outfit and tries from Rio Dyer and Harrison Keddie appeared to have done that.
But Cardiff, who had Tomos Williams and Josh Adams to thank for their earlier scores, stole victory at the death following Domachowski’s dramatic late try.
For Dai Young’s side, victory moves them up to fifth in the United Rugby Championship table, although it was tempered slightly by an injury to Wales wing Adams.
For much of the first-half, the scoreboard remarkably remained untroubled despite just about everything else happening.
There were missed opportunities, try-saving tackles and a healthy dollop of niggle between the two sides.
The dangerous Ashton Hewitt nearly broke the deadlock after 10 minutes as he broke away from the Cardiff defence, only for Taulupe Faletau to deny him with a last-ditch tackle.
Tensions threatened to boil over throughout and Dragons hooker Bradley Roberts was the first guilty party - sin-binned for a trip on Thomas Young that sparked a coming together of the two sets of players. Young did well to avoid a similar fate for kicking out at Roberts and then throwing him to the ground.
When the Dragons were reduced to 14, they somehow found the way to turn pressure into points. Two penalties from JJ Hanrahan opened up a six-point lead that reflected their advantage in the territory and possession stakes.
However, Cardiff somehow piece together a near-perfect few minutes to strike twice to turn the half on its head. First, a seemingly endless attacking set saw Cardiff build from their own half to the tryline - much of it without a fly-half as Rhys Priestland picked up an injury - ended with Rhys Carre putting Williams over with an neat offload.
A scuffle between the two sides
DRAGONS TRIES: Dyer, Keddie CON: Hanrahan PENS: Hanrahan (4) CARDIFF TRIES: Williams (2), Adams, Domachowski CONS: Evans (3) PEN: Evans
after that resulted in the game restarting with a Cardiff penalty. From that, brilliant handling from Priestland’s replacement Jarrod Evans and Owen Lane put Adams over for the second quickfire score.
Dragons responded well, with more good work from Hewitt on the left wing creating the space for Dyer to cross on the right, sparking more off the ball altercations to close the half.
The second-half was a little tighter and edgier, with both sides less concerned with the feistiness and more focused on cutting out errors.
After a prolonged spell around halfway fighting for territory, Cardiff forged further ahead as more brilliant handling from Evans freed Adams, who kicked a delicate grubber back inside for Williams to claim his second.
Concerningly for both Cardiff and Wales, Adams departed injured shortly before Hanrahan and Evans exchanged penalties around the hour-mark.
That latter penalty restored the two-score advantage for Cardiff and it appeared that might be enough.
However, the home side kept coming and some brilliant work from their maul saw Keddie get over to make it a one-point game. Minutes later, Hanrahan slotted over another penalty to put them ahead with eight minutes to play.
However, it wasn’t to be for the Dragons as Domachowski powered over from close-range just before the clock went red to snatch victory.