Newport Gwent Dragons 32-22 Glasgow Warriors
Rodney Parade, Saturday 11th October 2008
Heineken Cup Round 1.
The Dragons made it four consecutive wins for their return to the Heineken Cup on a sunny autumn afternoon at Rodney Parade.
Glasgow Warriors made the trip from Scotland to Gwent for the second time this season, hoping for a similar outcome to that achieved on the opening weekend of the Magners League. Sean Lineen’s team edged a scrappy encounter on that day, winning 12-6, thanks in large to a man of the match performance from Dan Parks.
The Scotland fly half was not present this time, missing out through injury and replaced by Colin Gregor. This was a very different game to that meeting in September however, dictated much less by the boot and to be remembered more for a display of free-flowing rugby, played in much better conditions.
Glasgow scored first against the run of play in this Pool 5 game, Lome Fa’atau running the length of the field to score after reading and intercepting a Dragons’ pass on his own line. Gregor secured an easy conversion before taking the Warriors’ tally to ten unanswered points with a penalty midway through the half.
James Arlidge, returning to the Dragons side today successfully converted two penalty kicks to bring the score to 6-10 before Warriors flanker Kelly Brown was sin-binned before the break for deliberately killing the ball.
The Dragons took full advantage of their extra number, scoring through Gareth Wyatt in the corner from a driving lineout. Arlidge’s conversion was unsuccessful but the Japanese International soon made up for it by dropping a goal on the stroke of half time to leave the game perfectly poised at half time with the Dragons leading 14-10.
Arlidge continued his good form in the second half, kicking another three points for his team, but the Warriors soon showed they were far from out of this game, scoring in the corner through the impressive Max Evans. Gregor levelled the score with a successful conversion, though the Dragons were soon back ahead after Wyatt went over for his second try of the game following solid forward play.
The Dragons seemed to take confidence from re-securing their lead and it was not long before Arlidge was on kicking duty again, successfully converting a Colin Charvis try after the flanker drove over from another superbly worked lineout. The Warriors came back strongly again though with a try from Alastair Kellock taking the Scots back to within seven points, though all nerves were calmed three minutes from time when Arlidge converted his second drop goal of the afternoon to secure the victory at 32-22.
Luke Charteris was awarded the Heineken Cup Man of the Match award at the final whistle, and for me, this was thoroughly deserved. With the Autumn Internationals only a few weeks away now, look out for the inclusion of Charteris and his second row partner Adam Jones. Both locks have been superb this season, especially in the lineout, dictated with the utmost accuracy again today by Tom Willis. In fact, the Dragons pack seems to get better each week, the returning Joe Bearman as inspirational as ever on his return today and Colin Charvis, again proving he is still a world class player.
It is testament to the growing belief within the squad that Paul Turner was disappointed at not achieving a bonus point in this opening group game. An otherwise delighted Dragons Coach praised his side’s newfound belligerence, saying:
“We started off today like a house on fire and I felt we coped pretty well with what Glasgow threw at us. It was another game in which we grew up. The key word this week was accuracy and I think we achieved our aims. There were a couple of boys who didn’t train in the week but still got through most of the game today. That’s the attitude we want from this squad and we’re very pleased”.
The Heineken Cup continues next week with the Dragons playing Bath at The Recreation Ground. The English side will undoubtedly be buoyed by their performance in Toulouse this weekend and the game will arguably be the Dragons’ biggest test of the season so far.
