Dragons fall to Benetton as they run out of puff

By Roger Panting

Dragons …………. 21pts

Tries: Westwood 27, Evans 50, Lewis-Hughes 73

Conversions: Evans 27, 50; O’Brien 74

Benetton ……….. 31pts

Tries: Bernasconi 36, Avaca 45, Manfredi 61, L Cannone 67

Conversions: Umaga 36, 45, Albornoz 61, 67

Penalty: Umaga 31

After a couple of narrow defeats, Dragons targeted this fixture as a must win to justify their improved performances but it wasn’t to be as the Italians, containing 13 internationals in their line-up, proved too strong.

It may have been a different story if Dragons had capitalised on their first-half dominance but again they had white line fever with careless passing costing them dear.

This allowed Benetton to remain in the game and eventually their forwards took control as the home side wilted in the scrum and conceded a host of penalties to leave the Italians with five points and the Dragons none.

Ahead of his squad announcement on Monday, Wales coach Warren Gatland was present but none of the Dragons made a strong case for inclusion.

The likes of Shane Lewis-Hughes and Brodie Coghlan battled hard against the ferocity of the opposition eight but regular squad members Leon Brown and Taine Basham had quiet nights with Rio Dyer having few chances to illustrate his ability.

First Half

Dragons, aided by a yellow card for Italian hooker Bautista Bernasconi for a dangerous clearout, had the better of the opening exchanges but it was still a largely featureless first 25 minutes.

Wings Jared Rosser and Dyer enlivened proceedings with a couple of penetrative bursts but Bernasconi looked set to return with no damage to the scoreboard until Joe Westwood made his mark.

On halfway, the centre intercepted a stray pass before holding off Louis Lynagh’s chase to touch down to give his side a deserved lead.

Jacob Umaga put Benetton on the board with a penalty before Lloyd Evans put the restart straight into touch which allowed the visitors to exert their first period of real pressure.

It paid dividends as they set up an unstoppable driving lineout for Bernasconi to force his way over with Umaga converting for a 10-7 interval lead.

Second Half

Five minutes after the restart that advantage was extended when Rhodri Williams failed to take a speculative up and under. The ball ran loose for Enzo Ava-ca to brush aside a weak tackle from Evans to score.

Evans soon made amends by scoring Dragons’ second try but Benetton kept Dragons at a distance when Marco Manfredi proved too strong from close-range.

Dragons’ race was run and it came as no surprise when Lorenzo Cannone crossed for the bonus-point try but the Welsh Region had the final say with a try for Lewis-Hughes.