Dragons 27-14 Connacht
Sunday, 26 April 2009The Dragons overcame a hesitant start to defeat fellow strugglers Connacht in a poor Magners League match at Rodney Parade.
The Welsh side took the lead after 35 minutes when Arlidge kicked a simple 30 metre penalty after Connacht were offside in midfield.
From the restart Connacht again offended, allowing Arlidge to place his penalty kick within five metres of the visitors' line.
From the line-out the Dragons produced a pre-planned move which allowed Joe Bearman to score. Arlidge converted to make it 10-0 at the interval.
Within a minute of the restart Connacht were dealt a further blow when their captain, Gavin Duffy, was sin-binned. Referee Graham Knox evened things up moments later by yellow carding Rhodri Gomer-Davies for holding onto the ball after a tackle.
Connacht got their first real chance of points after 47 minutes but Keatley missed with a 40 metre penalty. The outside half did make amends minutes later by running creatively to set up a try for Fionn Carr which he then converted.
Tries from Gomer-Davies and Rhys Thomas turned the match for the Dragons with Arlidge converting and adding another penalty. A fine Keith Matthews try kept Connacht in the match but they could only work hard to deny the home side a bonus point with wing Fionn Carr in the sin-bin for the final minutes.
