Gloucester v Dragons Match Report
A score of 23-21 on the final whistle saw the Dragons take a wonderful win much to the horror of the home crowd. The Men of Gwent will now travel to France to take on Montpellier after they qualified last night once they had beaten Sale Sharks.
It was Dorian Jones who got the game underway however the kick went straight into touch. Despite this, the Dragons were first to add points to the scoreboard with a penalty kick by Jones after the hosts were penalised for being offside.
Just a few minutes after this Gloucester went over for their first try of the afternoon. It was number 8 Ben Morgan that claimed the try however the Gloucester captain Greig Laidlaw missed the conversion.
The Men of Gwent were soon back in front after Dorian Jones slotted another penalty over the posts. However, Greig Laidlaw made no mistake on his second kick after they made it 8-6 with a penalty kick.
The Dragons then were penalised as scrum-half Sarel Pretorius was sin binned for a late tackle and once again Laidlaw slotted three points.
Unfortunately fly-half Jones missed two chances to respond, with one kick going wide and the other hitting the post, but after a yellow card was given to Laidlaw, Jones slotted the third one over to make it 11-9 after 30 minutes.
Just before the half time whistle, the Dragons kicked another penalty seeing them lead at the break 12-11.
During the sin binning the Dragons put in an outstanding shift which saw Jones kicking a penalty and fullback Carl Meyer kicking a long range penalty extending the Dragons lead to 18-11.
It was the Cherry and Whites who added the next set of points on the scoreboard in the 64th minute. A grubber kick from James Hook bouced over the head and through the hands of Pretorius for wing Steve McColl to go under the sticks with Laidlaw adding the extras.
The Dragons had the chance to make it 21-18 if jones had kicked the penalty however it was Gloucester who profited in the end as they were the ones who took the lead with just eight minutes left on the clock.
With little time left on the clock the Dragons were awarded a penalty and it was skipper Lewis Evans who made the decision to kick to the corner rather than the posts, and it paid off. As replacement scrum-half Charlie Davies darted over the white wash to make the scores 23-21.
Full Time: Gloucester 21 – Dragons 23
