Skilful Sam gets drop on Scarlets at death
A LAST-minute Sam Davies drop-goal snatched victory for the Dragons and left Scarlets stunned at Rodney Parade.
Fly-half Davies had missed a relatively straightforward penalty a few minutes earlier but, with the clock turned red, up stepped the former Ospreys man to down the lacklustre Scarlets in a dramatic finish.
“I'm really pleased for the lads,” said director of rugby Dean Ryan. “It was one of those games where there wasn't a huge amount of rugby played and in those games you've just got to stay in them.
“I thought the miss from Sam was going to come back and bite us. But I think over the last three or four games we have grown as a side. And I thought Ross Moriarty was outstanding. “A game like this where there's guys running straight at you is what Ross does best. He was the pick of everybody tonight when it came to collisions.” Davies' move from the Ospreys has really paid dividends with the No.10 kicking 17 points to go with a first-half try from Rhodri Williams.
Gareth Davies and Ken Owens claimed the Scarlets' two tries with Leigh Halfpenny adding ten points from the tee. As is often the case in derbies, form can go out of the window and Davies kicked the Dragons into an early 6-3 lead as the visitors made some sloppy errors with the home crowd on their backs.
The Scarlets looked dangerous with Gareth Davies and Uzair Cassiem both making early line breaks but they were rattled by both the Dragons' linespeed in defence and a vociferous home crowd. The Dragons were temporarily reduced to 14 men when second row Matthew Screech was sent to the sin bin for illegally taking down the Scarlets' driving lineout just as the men from Llanelli were creeping towards the try line. From the resulting scrum Davies sniped around the corner to score for the visitors.
And the Scarlets had the bit between their teeth to grab another with Owens powering over the line off the back of a driving lineout on his first regional appearance of the season.
The Scarlets began the second-half on the attack and should have scored a third try when newly-qualified Wales wing Johnny McNicholl knocked the ball forward with the line at his mercy after a terrific cross kick from Ryan Lamb.
Brad Mooar's side dominated territory and possession but were punished for their wastefulness when Davies kicked the hosts into the lead with seven minutes remaining.
In a dramatic finish, Halfpenny nudged the visitors back ahead after Hill was penalised for an early shove in the lineout.
The Scarlets must have thought they had got out of jail when Davies missed a routine penalty but it wasn't to be as Davies downed the Scarlets with a drop-goal on the last play of the game.
“The Dragons' kicking game was a little bit better in the second-half,” said Ken Owens.
“We weren't smart and didn't play to our strengths. It was a typical derby and I think we weren't clinical in a couple of key moments. “We gave them a couple of easy ins and that was that.”
