| Dragons (12) 19 |
| Try: Dee Con: Reed Pens: Reed 4 |
| Sharks (6) 20 |
| Try: Williams, Abrahams Cons: Chamberlain 2 Pens: Chamberlain 2 |
Dragons were denied backward wins, but Sharks won the battle to win at Rodney Parade.
The Dragons won a physically but disjointed half and led 12-6, thanks to four penalties by fly-half Will Reed.
Elliot Dee made it to the end of the first game with a successful touchdown.
Grant Williams intercepted Angus O’Brien’s pass for Sharks, before Thaakir Abrahams’ converted attempt secured a narrow victory.
Dragons suffered a terrible loss in this way. They deserved it after an incredible performance in challenging circumstances.
Dai Flanagan, the head coach, was still in charge of Dean Ryan’s departure from rugby as director. However, that uncertainty didn’t seem to disturb the Gwent region.
Flanagan had managed an impressive 23-17 win against Munster last weekend, which was the Dragons first home victory in 17 months.
The hosts had high expectations of winning Rodney Parade in back-to-back victories for the first time since 2020. They started aggressively against South Africa’s opponents who were missing their Springbok stars.
Will Rowlands, second row from Wales, and Ben Carter were the leaders of a strong Dragons forward effort. However, neither backline could play fluently in a half that featured plenty of endeavour and full blooded collisions. There was also an equal amount of handling mistakes.
The first half saw the scoring left to the fly-halves. Dragons took a 12-6 lead thanks to four Reed penalties and two Sharks penalties by Boeta chamberlain.
The Sharks’ defence was unable to resist the attack of O’Brien (wing Rio Dyer) and Rio Dyer (full-back), which resulted in Reed’s penalty.
Dee managed the maul that followed and jumped over at close range to try it. Reed won the attempt, which he converted well from the left.
Mauls seemed like the Sharks’ best way back into the game, as they drove towards Dragons’ try line. However, the home defense was disciplined and determined to not yield.
The Rodney Parade faithful cheered and applauded, as did the team’s aggressive counter-rucking that disrupted their enemies’ attacks.
However, the visitors were temporarily silenced when Sharks scrumhalf Williams intercepted O’Brien’s pass and ran clear to score a converted touchdown.
With six minutes left, Sharks pressure prompted and wing Abrahams ran up for a try. This brought his side within a point from the Dragons’.
Chamberlain’s conversion was a success and the visitors were ahead. Despite missing a penalty in the final seconds, his side maintained their lead to win their second match of the season.
Dragons: Angus O’Brien, Sio Tomkinson and Jack Dixon, Ashton Hewitt, Will Reed, Rhodri William; Aki Seiuli; Elliot Dee; Lloyd Fairbrother; Will Carter, Will Rowlands (capt), George Nott. Taine Basham. Ross Moriarty.
ReplacingBradley Roberts, Rob Evans and Chris Coleman. Joe Davies, Aaron Wainwright. Lewis Jones, Max Clark, Jordan Williams.
Sharks: Aphelele Fassi; Werner Kok, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Ben Tapuai, Thaakir Abrahams; Boeta Chamberlain, Grant Williams; Ntuthuko Mchunu, Kerron van Vurren, Thomas du Toit (capt), Justin Basson, Reniel Hugo, James Venter, Dylan Richardson, Phepsi Buthelezi.
Replacements: Dan Jooste and Dian Bleuler, Carlu Saide, Hyron Andrews.
Referee: Ben Blain (SRU)
Assistant referees: Gwyn Morris & Elwyn Morris Roberts (WRU)
TMO: Sam Grove-White