Ospreys v Dragons Match Report
Newport Gwent Dragons began the game well and made the most of their first points scoring opportunity, through the boot of Nick Macleod who slotted a penalty kick through the posts.
The hosts weren’t happy with the Dragons’ early lead and after making their way into the Dragons 22, referee Ben Whitehouse called on the TMO to check for foul play. After the review Dimitri Arhip was sent off for a dangerous tackle on Ed Jackson which saw him sit out the next ten minutes.
Despite their one man disadvantage the Ospreys came very close to crossing over for a try, but thankfully for the Dragons Paul James knocked the ball on over the line.
Unfortunately for the Dragons when in possession of the ball small errors from them, saw the Ospreys take full advantage and a five-metre scrum saw Ospreys Captain Tom Habberfield dive over for the first try of the evening. Josh Matavesi made no mistake with the conversion and the Ospreys led 7-3 after 23 minutes.
The home-side continued their dominance and with the Dragons being penalised for obstruction, Matavesi kicked to the corner. With the clock ticking to the end of the first half, the Ospreys forwards pushed their way through the Dragons defence with their maul and Scott Baldwin claimed the rewards. Once again Matavesi slotted the conversion and they led by eleven points.
Half-Time: Ospreys 14 – Newport Gwent Dragons 3
The Ospreys came out of the second half starting blocks well, as Man of the Match found the hands of youngster Keelan Giles who crossed for the third try of the afternoon. Matavesi was once again successful, which saw the home side take a lead of 21-3.
With a change at scrum-half for the Dragons Sarel Pretorius made his presence felt as he made a break and made it just 5m out from the Ospreys try-line, but pressure saw the Dragons pushed into touch losing the ball to the opposition.
The Ospreys bonus point came from the young win Giles in the 56th minute. The ball went loose which saw Joe Bearman boot it to Giles who in turn scooped the ball up and slide over for the converted try.
The homeside weren’t finished there however as another try went over for the Ospreys which once again was converted.
The Dragons however finally retaliated with tries from Matthew Screech and wing Pat Howard, which were converted by replacement fly-half Geraint Rhys Jones, but this wasn’t enough to take the lead from the Ospreys.
Full-Time: Ospreys 35 – Dragons 17
