With clear sky above and cold conditions at Newbridge it was the Dragons who had the better of the opening exchanges that was littered with handling errors, and they scored first. Following a series of rucks there a penalty was awarded for not rolling away, Adam Jones converted for a 3-0 lead.
The Blues though were starting to warm to the task and centre Owen Williams was a real thorn in the home teams side, only more errors at the break-down stopping the visitors from getting on the board. They eventually got their reward though as Diggy Bird landed a penalty midway through the half.
The Blues kept attacking but the mistakes also continued, and from one such mistake the Dragons were able to gain a great position in the away sides 22. A set move from the lineout set up a ruck under the posts and with the pick and drive working well Grant Rogers was able to crash over under the posts, Jones added the extras for a 10-3 half time lead.
The second half started as the first has finished with the Blues having most of the possession but creating more errors. They did though have the opportunity of the first points of the half, Diggy Bird striking the upright with a long-range penalty.
The home side had now de-frosted and were starting to play. After a couple of thrusts into the Blues half by the pack they spread the ball wider only for the attack to be snuffed out by captain Thomas Young. At the ruck though referee Hodges spotted illegal use of the boot and sent hooker Ieuan Davies to the bin. The visitors defended manfully with 14 men for 9 minutes but the inevitable score came through lock Tomos Crandon. 15-3.
The home side now looked home and dry, but the Blues attacks kept coming, one such attack being stopped only by what appeared to be a deliberate knock down with a man spare only for the referee to give a knock on. But it wasn’t the Blues night and with the rain starting to fall the final whistle blew with no addition to the score.
Speaking after the game Regional High Performance Manager Gafyn Cooper said, “we made a lot of errors, our set piece worked well but at the contact area we turned over too much ball, something that we will have to work on. But take nothing away from the Dragons, they were the better side and deserved to win”
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