Head Coach Ceri Jones hailed a ‘special performance’ from his Dragons as they produced a breath-taking second half comeback to stun Scarlets at Judgement Day VII at Principality Stadium.
Dragons were trailing 17-6 at the break in the capital before a stunning fight-back saw them score three tries in just eight minutes through Matthew Screech, Jack Dixon and Josh Lewis.
Scarlets battled back ahead until - with less than 90 seconds left on the clock - a stunning second score from lock Screech sent the crowd wild and Jason Tovey held his nerve to nudge the Dragons ahead.
In one final heart-stopping dramatic twist, the Scarlets poured forward in injury time, but a late drop goal from Rhys Patchell flew wide as Dragons won 34-32 in a game that will live long in the memory.
“That was such a special performance and I am so proud of the players. I hope they have made the people of Gwent proud,” said Jones.
“The changing room atmosphere is, as you would expect, very good. This is a group that have not had that much success, not only this year but in the past as well.
“To get that monkey off our back, with a victory not only at Judgement Day but away from Rodney Parade, was great. It was all about hard work and determination. I am very proud.
“We had an interesting discussion at half-time,” he added. “I don’t often lose my temper, but I did a bit.
“I felt we controlled the first 15 to 20 minutes. Our drive got us into the game, we had good field position and put pressure on them.
“But we gave a dubious yellow card away and, off the back of it, went a little bit crazy. We tried to create magic when we didn’t need to do it.
“We spoke about dominating them up front, keeping the ball in attack and showing people what we can do. We showed resilience to win it late on.”
And Jones now wants the victory to spur his Dragons on next season adding: “We need to turn this into consistent performances. They are a young Welsh group and we need to take confidence from this and move forward.
“We showed today how tough we can be, how resilient we can be, and how hard working we can be. That sounds like traits of an old school Gwent team to me.
"If we start to show those traits going forward I will be very proud of this team.”
Season Memberships renewals for 2019/20 campaign are available NOW. Click HERE for more information.
We showed today how tough we can be, how resilient we can be, and how hard working we can be. That sounds like traits of an old school Gwent team...
