Scarlets maintain strong start
The Scarlets maintained their strong start to the Magners League season on Friday night with a 27-14 victory over the Dragons.
Last Updated: 24/09/10 9:41pm
The Scarlets maintained their strong start to the Magners League season on Friday night with a 27-14 victory over the Dragons in Newport.
The visitors owed their win to a dominant first half in which the Scarlets scored three tries. Newport attempted to come back in the second period but ultimately slumped to their third loss in four games.
As Wales boss Warren Gatland kept an eye on proceedings with the autumn internationals in mind, it will surely have been the home players who made the bigger impression.
The Scarlets led 24-3 at the break, with centre Jonathan Davies and fly-half Stephen Jones much in evidence.
Davies set up the opening try for wing George North before picking the ball up on the Dragons' 10-metre line and scoring himself, despite the despairing tackles of Will Harries and Adam Hughes.
Jones was also involved in Davies' try on an evening when he produced a fine kicking display in general - the number 10 kicking both around the field and through the posts magnificently.
Scramble
Welsh hooker Matthew Rees then scored the Scarlets' third after scrambling to the line from a few metres out - referee James Jones consulting with video official Neil Ballard before awarding the points.
The Scarlets' defence was also strong, although the Dragons rather shot themselves in the foot when flanker Robin Sowden-Taylor was sin-binned for a ruck offence.
Yet they held a two-man advantage for 13 minutes of the second half when first Davies and then Rees were sent to the sin-bin.
Trailing by 21 points, the Dragons gained two penalties but they should have made greater inroads - skipper Tom Willis strangely asking Matthew Jones to boot a 15-metre shot when a scrum would have been better.
Scarlets went down to 14 men with a third sin-bin of the game, this time scrum-half Tavis Knoyle the man yellow carded.
The Dragons made it count this time following a neat move which saw centre Tom Riley put Harries over in the left corner to make it 24-14.
The home side finally had their opponents under the cosh in their own territory and yet they failed to breach the Scarlets' defence again.
It was the visitors who put the final points on the board when Stephen Jones kicked an easy penalty for a 13-point lead.
