Cardiff Blues v Dragons Match Report
Despite two early changes in the back three as Adam Warren and George Gasson came in to cover Ashton Hewitt and Jared Rosser and with fullback Hallam Amos being deemed fit at the last minute, the Dragons were hungry for the win.
They came out of the starting blocks quickly with a converted try within 4 minutes of kick off. Amos was caught by a swinging arm from Taufa’ao Filise but they played on with last weekend’s Man of the Match Elliot Dee involved plus Sarel Pretorius, James Benjamin and Gavin Henson putting Warren over. Following Henson’s conversion, referee Nigel Owens went back and showed Filise the yellow sending them down to 14-men.
The hosts evened the scores with their own converted try as hooker Kristian Dacey charged over and Jarrod Evans converting. However, it didn’t stay that way very long as the Dragons replied quickly with Elliot Dee bursting through the defence and going over; Henson slotted the conversion once again, seeing the scores at 14-7 to the Dragons after 10 minutes.
Cardiff Blues narrowed the gap with a penalty kick from the scrum penalty, but soon the visitors chalked up their third. This was thanks to phenomenal break from Welsh International Tyler Morgan who stepped on the gas and made it around 5m from the whitewash but was caught by Alex Cuthbert only for Morgan to get the ball to his supporting player, George Gasson for him to cross. Henson converted the try and the Dragons went into the changing rooms with the lead.
Half Time: Cardiff Blues 10 - Dragons 21
The second half didn’t start as well as the first for the Men of Gwent and the continuous pressure on the Dragons saw cracks form as replacement Matthew Morgan darted over with Evans narrowing the gap to 17-21.
The Dragons continued battling and when they were awarded the penalty from the scrum, Henson opted for the posts and added three points to the scoreboard; 24-17.
On the 60-minute marker Tom James went over for the Cardiff Blues’ third, Evans failed to convert but they had found their feet and went over for three more tries with Alex Cuthbert, Jarrod Evans and Matthew Morgan all dotting down before the match was over.
The Dragons secured their fourth try and earned the bonus point thanks to replacement Lloyd Fairbrother barging his way over.
Full Time: Cardiff Blues 43 – Dragons 29
Referee: Nigel Owens
Attendance: 8,178
Man of the Match: Seb Davies
