The Dragons’ resurgence gathered further momentum as they brushed aside the bottom-placed Scarlets in a one-sided Welsh derby at Rodney Parade.
The 28-5 victory sees the Dragons climb up to 10th on the Vodacom URC log with the Bulls dropping to 12th and the Sharks to 14th.
After spending much of the 2024-25 campaign propping up the standings, the Newport-based side is finally finding rhythm, backing up improved performances with a third straight home win.
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The first half, however, was low on fluency. Flyhalf Tinus de Beer opened the scoring in the eighth minute, with fullback Angus O’Brien adding the conversion to give the hosts an early foothold.
The Scarlets briefly responded through winger Ellis Mee just after the half-hour mark, but a missed conversion left them trailing 7-5 at the break.
Any hope of a comeback evaporated soon after the restart when Scarlets lock Max Douglas was shown a 20-minute red card. The Dragons wasted little time in making their numerical advantage count.
Hooker Oli Burrows and winger David Richards crossed in quick succession as the home side pulled clear, opening up a commanding 21-5 lead.
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The bonus-point win was wrapped up five minutes from time when replacement hooker George Roberts powered over, capping a controlled and confident performance.
Elsewhere, Wales scrumhalf Kieran Hardy scored a brace as the Ospreys secured a 33-22 bonus-point victory against Cardiff in Bridgend.
Hardy’s brace was supplemented by tries from wingers Keelan Giles and Iestyn Hopkins and hooker Sam Parry to lift the Ospreys to eighth on the log above the Lions.
Photo: Huw Fairclough/Getty Images
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