Scarlets seal bonus-point win in Dragons derby

United Rugby Championship

Scarlets (24) 32

class=”ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3″>Tries: Murray 2, Macloed, Mee class=”ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3″>Cons: Costelow 3 Pens: Costelow, Lloyd

Dragons (3) 15

Scarlets welcomed the new year with a bonus-point derby win over Dragons in the United Rugby Championship (URC).

Blair Murray, a returning Wales wing, scored twice in the opening period, with Josh Macloed also scoring.

After the break, Ellis Mee earned the bonus point before Taine Basham and Huw Anderson crossed for the visitors thanks to a change in momentum.

After losing to Ospreys and Cardiff in the west and east festive derbies, respectively, both teams made changes.

Elliot Dee, a late Dragons withdrawal, was scheduled to make his first start of the campaign after recovering from an ankle injury.

Rhodri Williams’ scrum-half, who had some early kick exchanges, broke through with a 50:22 lead, but his team was turned over after a promising attacking lineout.

Sam Costelow made room for Murray in the middle, and Taine Plumtree, Tom Rogers, and Johnny Williams’ excellent interplay made it possible for Gareth Davies to break Murray.

After the Dragons were punished at the breakdown, Costelow added the extras before kicking a long-range penalty.

When Scarlets were caught offside, visiting skipper Angus O’Brien used the opportunity to put Dragons on the board, but it had no effect in stabilizing the ship after they failed to restart.

Aaron Wainwright left the field to give the Dragons a further blow in the 25th minute, but the number eight, who had already passed his head injury assessment (HIA), was relieved by Wales head coach Warren Gatland.

When Scarlets wing Mee was overly complacent when he ran a kick past Dyer for the first time in the half, the ball rolled out to spare him his blushes.

A super Sam Lousi break, which Scarlets continued to attack with fluidity, almost set off a try. Scarlets kicked a number of penalties, all of which came as a result.

Before Macloed broke free from the driving maul on the half-hour mark, player of the match Marnus van de Merwe came close.

The bonus-point was wrapped up just after the break, and again it came from a Dragons error.

The ball was spilled in contact, allowing Scarlets to break, and Johnny Williams managed to score past Tom Rogers, who had to balance the rebound with the backwards before Mee finally crossed. It was not pretty, but Scarlets did not mind.

The defense was able to scramble as replacements disrupted the flow of the game and Dyer showed his class with an elusive run deep into Scarlets territory before the momentum started to change.

A series of pick-and-shoots gave Basham something to cheer for away fans as Dragons maintained the pressure.

Although the Dragons should have scored a second, Macloed was able to hold him up due to a little white line fever from Shane Lewis-Hughes.

Scarlets were then struck when Plumtree received a yellow card for failing to wrap up a Lewis-Hughes tackle on the hour mark.

Anderson and replacement scrum-half Che Hope had great interplay, and the Dragons were able to use it in the corner.

The comeback was put on hold when a Ioan Lloyd penalty caused Lousi to once more start to pick holes in the defense.

Because we’ve lost four games and have only lost four points overall, I felt good about our ability to recover from that defeat.

“I think we played some good stuff, especially in that first 50 minutes, we were clinical in what we did.

The final thirty were “we were scrappy,” but we still managed to get there.

Dragons head coach Filo Tiatia said:” I was disappointed in the first half, clearly we weren’t at the races. We were flat, we had no energy on both sides of the ball, and we only managed to score a few tries.

There is still learning to be done even though the second half was a different team.

” It’s a short turnaround but you’ve just got to front up. If you’re going to wear the jersey as a group, you’ve got to fill it.

Replacements: Shaun Evans, Kemsley Mathias, Archer Holz, Vaea Fifita, Jarrod Taylor, Archie Hughes, Ioan Lloyd, Eddie James

Dragons: Cai Evans, Rio Dyer, Jared Rosser, Aneurin Owen, Huw Anderson, Angus O’Brien (capt), Rhodri Williams, Rodrigo Martinez, Brodie Coghlan, Dmitri Arhip, Joe Davies, Ryan Woodman, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Taine Basham, Aaron Wainwright.

Replacements: James Benjamin, Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths, Chris Coleman, Nick Thomas, Dan Lydiate, Che Hope, Will Reed, Harry Wilson.

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)

Assistant referees: Craig Evans &amp, Mike English (WRU)