Dragons kick hard as victory slips through Scots' fingers

Saturday 29 September 2012

THIS was a contest between attacking flair and pragmatic points-scoring.

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Newport Gwent 32 Edinburgh 12: Dragons kick hard as victory slips through Scots’ fingers

If Edinburgh provided the former, handling mistakes were too often the undoing of their ambition while Newport-Gwent Dragons were simply desperate to add a second win to their poor start to the season.

With Tom Prydie, the left wing, converting six out of six penalty kicks at goal and outside-half Steffan Jones adding three drop goals, victory was not pretty for the Dragons, but that was of little consolation to Edinburgh.

Tim Visser made one try and scored another as the visitors outscored their hosts two tries to one, but indiscipline and poor handling cost Edinburgh the chance of pushing the home team closer in what ended up as a pretty one-sided contest.There were seven changes in the Edinburgh side from last week's bonus-point defeat in Leinster, but the strength of the side was undiluted; the depth of their squad is the most significant difference between this season and last.That also means they are able to take the RaboDirect Pro12 more seriously than last year and Edinburgh were in the unusual position of going for a second successive win in Wales, the sort of thing not seen since they finished second under Andy Robinson.Edinburgh were also up against a side who had only won once this season, though the Welsh region did have an impressive record against the Scots, including a double over them last season.However, Welsh confidence would have been knocked by the sight of flanker Dan Lydiate, RBS 6 Nations player of the year last season, being stretchered off after two minutes. He faces being ruled out for the season with a dislocated and broken ankle.All that allowed the visitors to start with confidence, with 20-year-old outside half Harry Leonard pulling the strings nicely in the pivotal position.His neat pop pass put Visser, the blindside wing, through the middle. His big 20-yard pass then got the ball wide to fellow wing Tom Brown, who had space to get over in the corner. Leonard converted from the touchline.Edinburgh continued to threaten but made too many mistakes, which allowed the Dragons out of their own half. They made use of the territory to force penalties and Prydie landed all three first-half penalties, including one from his own half.In contrast Leonard missed with two penalty efforts, but when the Dragons hooker Steve Jones was sin-binned for killing the ball, it looked like Edinburgh had the upper hand.If that was a slightly soft yellow card, then it was to be cancelled out by an even odder one. The Edinburgh forwards took out catcher Ian Nimmo from a kick off, captain Sean Cox went forward to see what had happened, only to be wrongly sent to the bin for an offence committed by fellow lock Robert McAlpine.The Dragons kicked into touch in the Edinburgh 22 and then a set move from the lineout saw prop Phil Price race round the front and 20 yards to the line. Prydie missed his first kick of the night, but it gave the Dragons a handy advantage at half-time.Worse was to follow for Edinburgh when flanker Ross Rennie was sent to the sin-bin immediately after the break. It was another ruck offence that hardly seemed to warrant the punishment.Prydie extended the gap, but Edinburgh squandered a second try when a break by scrum half Richie Rees was ended with a knock on.The Dragons extended their lead when outside half Steffan Jones struck a sweet drop goal from 40 yards.Edinburgh were back up to 15 men and hit back with Leonard and Rees to the fore as they pressed inside the 22, Visser eventually pouncing on a Leonard kick through to add another try to his tally.However Jones, with two more drop goals, and Prydie with another penalty made sure that the comeback was to be short-lived.The Dragons ended up comfortably on top in the closing minutes as every glance up at the scoreboard gave them confidence to see home their advantage.

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Dragons kick hard as victory slips through Scots' fingers

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