Dragons v Leinster

[An Tarbh]

Dragons v Leinster (Fri)

Venue: Rodney Parade Date: Friday, 9 May Kick-off: 1910 BST

Colin Charvis will lead the Dragons into their last game of the season, having been tipped by coach Paul Turner for a call-up to Wales' summer tour.

Blues Academy prop Patrick Palmer gets a surprise call to the Dragons line-up to cover a front-row crisis.

Chris Keane and Jonathan Sexton are at half-back for Leinster, Michael Berne and Luke Fitzgerald into the backs.

Cian Healy, Brian Blaney, Stephen Knoop, Devin Toner, Cameron Jowitt and Kevin McLaughlin start in the pack.

Bernard Jackman, Malcolm O'Kelly and Chris Whitaker are all named on a strong-looking bench.

Turner has promised Magners League champions Leinster a much tougher contest than in their 41-8 defeat in their last meeting on 3 May.

Turner said: "I don't think Ollie Le Roux has scored two easier tries in his career. He scored his second one holding his cheeseburger, I think.

"But we probably did enough to show we'll be pretty competitive on Friday.

"What happened a few weeks ago was embarrassing, to be honest, and the boys had the full brunt of me at half-time and afterwards.

"But they are Magners League champions because they are the best side in the league by far."

Dragons: Kevin Morgan; Gareth Wyatt, Rhodri Gomer-Davies/Paul Emerick, Phillip Dollman, Richard Fussell; Jason Tovey, Wayne Evans; Hugh Gustafson, Steve Jones, Patrick Palmer, Andy Hall, Luke Charteris, Colin Charvis (capt), James Harris, Joe Bearman/Lewis Evans.
Replacements: Ben Daly, Adam Black, Adam Jones, Lewis Evans/Richard Parks, Paul Emerick/Gareth Maule, Ceri Sweeney, Alex Walker.

Leinster: Girvan Dempsey, Shane Horgan, Brian O'Driscoll (cpt), Michael Berne, Luke Fitzgerald, Jonathan Sexton, Chris Keane; Cian Healy, Brian Blaney, Stephen Knoop, Trevor Hogan, Devin Toner, Cameron Jowitt, Kevin McLaughlin, Stephen Keogh.
Replacements: Bernard Jackman, Ronan McCormack, Malcolm O'Kelly, Richie Leyden, Chris Whitaker, Christian Warner, Gary Brown.

Referee: Peter Allan (SRU)

BBC Sport

 

[Thingimubob]

unexpected, great game though. from BBC Sport:




Dragons 31-26 Leinster

Centre Phil Dollman scored the pick of the Dragons' tries Dragons (24) 31
Tries: S Jones, W Evans, Gustafson, Dollman, Black
Cons: Tovey 2, Sweeney
Leinster (15) 26
Tries: Berne 2, Dempsey
Con: Sexton
Pens: Sexton 3



Newport Gwent Dragons regained some pride with a hard-fought win over champions Leinster in the last round of this season's Magners League.

Hooker Steve Jones broke the Irish line within three minutes, with Wayne Evans, Hugh Gustafson and Phil Dollman all swiftly following for a bonus point.

Leinster hit back through Michael Berne and Girvan Dempsey before the break.

But a fifth Dragons try, through Adam Black, proved just enough despite Berne crossing again to spark a tense finale.

606: DEBATE Have your say on the game When these two sides met six days ago in Dublin the Dragons were blown away, as Leinster sealed the ***le with a 41-8 victory.

Although it was a much-changed Leinster side that took the field at Rodney Parade, the champions cannot have expected to be four tries down within 20 minutes.

It took the Dragons just three minutes to break through, Jason Tovey's chip being gathered by Rhodri Gomer-Davies, who in turn fed hooker Jones to score.

Tovey converted and the rookie fly-half was soon in a position to release his backs once again.

Jonathan Sexton was just a fraction too eager as Leinster came up in defence, the fly-half out of alignment to give Dollman a sniff of a gap.

The centre threw in a set of brilliant side-steps and sent an overhead pass into the arms of Evans for the Dragons' second try, this time unconverted.

The home side's pack then stepped up to produce another five points, a line-out and drive muscling prop Gustafson over.

Sexton struck a penalty to get Leinster on the scoreboard, but the Dragons duly collected a bonus point as their fourth try arrived.

Tovey's half-break was taken on by Gareth Wyatt - in off his wing - to give Dollman space to reach the line, and Tovey's conversion made it 24-3.

Stung into action, the Leinster pack thundered into the Welsh half with a series of drives that sucked in the defenders.

A swift release from a ruck gave Berne acres of space on the right and the centre was able to canter over, Sexton converting.

Leinster made the numbers count again on the half-hour mark, this time a slick backs move going left allowing Dempsey to squeeze in at the corner after good work from Shane Horgan.

Tovey had a penalty chance to give the Dragons the last say in the half, but his miss meant they had to settle for a 24-15 lead at the break.

A long-range penalty from Sexton 10 minutes after the restart brought Leinster back to within a converted try.

The Dragons responded magnificently, with veteran back-row Colin Charvis - possibly in his last match for the region - to the fore in a man-of-the-match performance.

James Harris was just held short of the Leinster line but a second surge saw prop Black force his way through.

Ceri Sweeney, on at fly-half for Tovey, added the extras in his last match for the Dragons before joining the Cardiff Blues next season.

Adam Jones earned a spell in the sin-bin for slowing Leinster ball and the visitors again worked the gaps to earn Berne his second try on 69 minutes.

But crucially Sexton missed the conversion, leaving Leinster needing two scores if they were to sneak the win.

In the final minute Harris became the second Dragon to be yellow-carded and Sexton struck the resulting penalty.

Leinster had no choice but to keep the ball alive as they searched for a winning try and the Dragons' hearts were in their mouths as Brian O'Driscoll almost broke through.

But the Dragons held out to earn a heartening win and send team manager Jim McCreedy into retirement after 40 years of service at Rodney Parade.



Dragons: Kevin Morgan; Gareth Wyatt, Rhodri Gomer-Davies, Phillip Dollman, Richard Fussell; Jason Tovey, Wayne Evans; Hugh Gustafson, Steve Jones, Patrick Palmer, Andy Hall, Luke Charteris, Colin Charvis (capt), James Harris, Joe Bearman.
Replacements: Ben Daly, Adam Black, Adam Jones, Lewis Evans, Paul Emerick, Ceri Sweeney, Alex Walker.

Leinster: Girvan Dempsey; Shane Horgan, Brian O'Driscoll (capt), Michael Berne, Gary Brown; Jonathan Sexton, Chris Keane; Cian Healy, Brian Blaney, Stephen Knoop, Trevor Hogan, Devin Toner, Cameron Jowitt, Kevin McLaughlin, Stephen Keogh.
Replacements: Bernard Jackman, Ronan McCormack, Malcolm O'Kelly, Richie Leyden, Chris Whitaker, Christian Warner, Juan Gomez.

Referee: Colin Stanley (Ireland).

 

[dullonien]

I couldn't believe what I was seeing in the first 20mins of that game. The Dragon's were on fire, scoring at will with some very creative stuff indeed. The youngsters really stood up to be counted.

Jason Tovey looked impressive with ball in hand, controlling the game well with good variation, his half break for Dollman's try shows he naturally plays what's in front of him. Unfortunately he let himself down with his composure, missing touch from penalties twice and missing some straight foreward shots at goal.

Phill Dollman is another I was impressed with, what a run for Wayne Evans' try, beating several tacklers with ease, then had the awarness to provide a delicate try scoring pass. I did notice he missed a couple of tackles, but he'll learn.

Rhodri Gomer-Davies has been impressing me every time I see him, he doesn't do much flash stuff, but he works hard, runs good lines, never looses the ball and is solid defensively.

The two youngsters in the pack which look promising are Steve Jones the Hooker and prop Hugh Gustafson. Jones has been playing most of the season, but he really put in an impressive display yesterday, his throwing was accurate and he was good in open play, scoring a try to boot.

Hugh Gustafson showed he can hold his own scrum time and was workative around the park, again scoring a try.

The one other person I'd like to mention was Charvis, that might have been the last game of his career (though there's still a chance of him going to SA with Wales, crazy situation), he showed that he's still good enough, putting in an impressive man of the match display. He stole and carried ball all game, and he was often the guy in support after breaks. The man has been a huge player, I'm surprised Dragons haven't renewed his contract or a GP team hasn't picked him up.

 

[Cymro]

I couldn't believe what I was seeing in the first 20mins of that game. The Dragon's were on fire, scoring at will with some very creative stuff indeed. The youngsters really stood up to be counted.

Jason Tovey looked impressive with ball in hand, controlling the game well with good variation, his half break for Dollman's try shows he naturally plays what's in front of him. Unfortunately he let himself down with his composure, missing touch from penalties twice and missing some straight foreward shots at goal.

Phill Dollman is another I was impressed with, what a run for Wayne Evans' try, beating several tacklers with ease, then had the awarness to provide a delicate try scoring pass. I did notice he missed a couple of tackles, but he'll learn.

Rhodri Gomer-Davies has been impressing me every time I see him, he doesn't do much flash stuff, but he works hard, runs good lines, never looses the ball and is solid defensively.

The two youngsters in the pack which look promising are Steve Jones the Hooker and prop Hugh Gustafson. Jones has been playing most of the season, but he really put in an impressive display yesterday, his throwing was accurate and he was good in open play, scoring a try to boot.

Hugh Gustafson showed he can hold his own scrum time and was workative around the park, again scoring a try.

The one other person I'd like to mention was Charvis, that might have been the last game of his career (though there's still a chance of him going to SA with Wales, crazy situation), he showed that he's still good enough, putting in an impressive man of the match display. He stole and carried ball all game, and he was often the guy in support after breaks. The man has been a huge player, I'm surprised Dragons haven't renewed his contract or a GP team hasn't picked him up. [/b]

Sums it up for me although Richard Fyssall should also get a noticable mention because he was brillaint on the wing!