Dragons 23 - 11 Perpignan - Amlin Cup Result

First topic message reminder :

Newport Gwent Dragons (17) 23
Tries: Evans, Jones Cons: Tovey 2 Pens: Tovey Drop-goal: Tovey 2
Perpignan (3) 13
Tries: Plante Cons: Hook Pens: Hook 2

Man of the Match was Lewis Evans the Dragons Blindside


The Dragons secured their second successive victory in the Amlin Challenge Cup with an impressive win over Perpignan at Rodney Parade.

Lewis Evans and Adam Jones crossed for first half tries for the Dragons, who top Pool 4.

Jason Tovey contributed 13 points to the Dragons total, including two drop-goals.

Adrien Plante scored a consolation for Perpignan, while James Hook contributed eight points on his Welsh return.

Both sides went into the game having won their opening matches in the competition the previous weekend.

The Dragons started purposefully and tested the Perpignan defence during a scrappy opening opening 10 minutes.

And they were rewarded for their early pressure with the opening try of the game on 13 minutes.

Tovey released flanker Evans out wide, who charged through a gap to score from close range before the number 10 added the extra two points.

Tovey extended the home side's lead to 10-0 on 22 minutes, slotting over a straightforward penalty.

The Dragons did not have to wait too long for their second try and Wales hooker Lloyd Burns, making his first appearance since returning from World Cup duty, played a pivotal role.

A charging run from Burns set up Adam Jones who rolled over for the try, which Tovey successfully converted.

Perpignan had to wait until the 34th minute for their first points of the game with James Hook successful with a simple penalty.

Having enjoyed the majority and the possession during the first half, the Dragons fully deserved their 17-3 interval lead.

Hook scored the first points of the second half with a long range penalty which doubled his side's score.

After a subdued first half, Hook was settling into the game but the former Osprey missed his third penalty attempt of the evening.

His opposite number Tovey added to his and his side's tally on 56 minutes when he added a further three points with a drop-goal.

Five minutes later Tovey added a second drop goal from a similar position after some patient play by the Dragons.

Perpignan were down to 14 men on 63 minutes after Florian Cazenave was shown a yellow card following an infringement at a ruck.

Tovey failed with the resultant penalty, his first failure of the evening before he missed another attempt four minutes later.

The Dragons were forced to play out the final nine minutes a man short after former Wales international Gavin Thomas was also sin-binned.

In the final minute wing Plante burst through the middle for a consolation try, which was converted by Hook.

But by then the Dragons had done enough to secure their second win of the competition.

Tovey drop goal, nice work, taking the points in the Perps half...

Been under some good pressure for a while but good play again by Dragons

Tovey is looking very talented tonight

20 - 6

Yes I agree the Dragons are going well, it's always the frustrating thing, they play above themselves at home, but below themselves away, they really need to balance things better!

Tovey having a stormer, some great DG from him, superb distribution as well.

Tovey really is looking the man, more play like this and he'll be pushing Priestland for his spot

ref should have got the cards out for the perp back row and scrum half about twenty minutes ago, but finally he cards their 9

what a kick by ADAM JONES ...?

fab wasn't it Maes? Really enjoying this game.

how many tries to the dragons have? Real lack of ambition. The game is well won.

stand you are way off the mark with that comment...! all dragons have done is attack...

2 Stand, and they've messed up a couple of really good try scoring chances too. Would have hoped for them to have scored more though with the possession they've had.

maestag

Sorry but 17 points up against 14 men with less than 20 left and they go for the sticks?

I am not saying they are playing badly but in the 2nd half they havent threatened the tryline. I understand doing that to get beyond 2 scores but surely that was the time to go for it.

dragons will concede a try now that gav is off for ten

Standulstermen wrote:maestag

Sorry but 17 points up against 14 men with less than 20 left and they go for the sticks?

I am not saying they are playing badly but in the 2nd half they havent threatened the tryline. I understand doing that to get beyond 2 scores but surely that was the time to go for it.

Stand I think they were going for it but it just wasnt happening for them. they have been getting pasted in the scrum.. Perps are a huge set piece team

As long as they win, nothing else really maters. They have done really well tonight.

Adam Hughes defence is magic

ah that's a really soft try to concede right at the end there by the Dragons

And theres the perp try...!

23-11

hook smashes it through 23-13

good result, great play by Dragons... stay top of the pool... all good

Shame about that Dragons ............. perhaps a touch of stamina gone in the second half, but a great team performance

Excellent result, and no LBP. Very well done by Dragons.

Perpignan turned up and got a bit tougher in the second half. They had the scrum and destroyed Dragons momentum.

Dragons defensive scrum looked very good but attacking lacked any power

Good win and chavy was so close to a try a few times

Good result against what looks like a poor team with little discipline how that Pires stayed on the whole game only the ref knows why.

Dragons are in a good position, they just need some of that spirit away from home.

I am not sure Hook gone with the best team in the World for rugby success but they pay well.

Well done Dragons

AlynDavies wrote:As long as they win, nothing else really maters. They have done really well tonight.

100% correct. 4 points, no USAP LBP is all that matters.

We had to go for whatever points are available. That's common sense, not lack of ambition. How many teams go for tries and waste a ten minute sin bin period by not getting anything. Especially when Perp were slightly on top in the third quarter.

Anyway, delighted with the win.

Excellent result.Well played,Dragons!

I think you can safely say that Dragon have tow very good blindside flankers and a great team spirit.

And the first battle between Hook and his young pretenders to the flyhalf throne went firmly to that young Knave Sir Jason Tovey. The Perpignan side was talented enough for Hooky to orchestrate some attacking movement which really didnt happen.

But as you say early days

Good match tho, great advert for the Amlin Cup

Hopfully Lewis Evans will make a good 7. He was excellent again to night. He's always had promise (still young) but he's now playing with more ergency.

Tovey was his usual self, controlled the game, took the points (to drop goals- a message to gatland?) when needed and great distribution and awareness. Very composed.

Some good hits in the defence and burns worked really hard tonight. Adam jones has been imence this season, if only he was younger! crowd, good atmosphere for a Thursday night n allthough it's getting tight in the terrace...

A great result. I do agree slightly with stand. I said in the hazell that it was a lack of ambition. That may be harsh, but this group will be decided on bonus points. It's great to keep them from picking up a LB point, and I would have settled for this score line before the game. But the opportunity did present itself and we chose not to rake it.

I don't think its a case of chose not to, we were attacking all game. The two drop goals wetter the right decisions, how many times have the dragons been ahead and not shut the game down ?

I thought the drop goals were just what was needed - keeping us out of Perpignan's reach. We didn't get into their half as much in the second half so it was common sense to take the points when we were there.

Jason Tovey was so assured last night. His kicking out of hand is the best of any Welsh outside half and I hope that's recognised by the Welsh management.

I was at the game and so pleased with the result. Not one to complain about the ref, but the two drop goals were needed at that point in the game as Perpignan were repeatedly offside without being penalised and it meant we couldn't get our backline moving as Perp were up so quick. Good decision by Tovey IMO as nothing was on.

I said in a post the other day that we often struggle because of our weak front row. In fairness, Nathan Williams, Lloyd Burns and Dan Way did a good job early in the game and were quite competitive, so credit must be given there. However, a mark of a team's quality is the bench and it really told that Perpignan were able to bring on Nicolas Mas fresh from a world cup final (one of the best props in the world?) and we brought on Phil Price and Nathan Buck. Both good prospects, but the experience and power of the Perpignan bench front row really told and our scrum completely disintergrated meaning we were giving away a number of penalties and Faletau was going backwards at the scrum. I think this meant that at times we couldn't push on and aim for the try bonus point.

With scrum and forward parity in the first 20 minutes we were able to get a good platform and secure possession on the floor, and were able to build multiple phases. This also allowed Tovey the time to weigh up his options and kick to the corners when nothing was on. However, when Perp started to gain the set piece advantage and our replacements weakened our team, Tovey had to change tactics to up and unders, Wayne Evans was box kicking, Martyn Thomas was kicking and chasing, and it just meant that we were giving possesion to them and we lost the intensity in our game.

Overall, very very pleased with the win. I predicted Dragons by 5 on the other thread so this was beyond my expectations! Well done boys.

So glad that Tovey had such a good game in front of Gats - feel FHF is a bit harsh on Hook as the majority of the perps players played really poorly and were kept in they're own 22 in the 1st half by 1. the Dragons, 2. the wind and 3. the poor skills by most of the perps team - I thought Hooks kicking was ok but over shadowed by Toveys, and he showed some good attacking intent when given the opportunity - he just didn't have much opportunity as Perps didn't have much of the ball.

I also think in ref to Stand - I agree that the Dragons should have scored more tries but I think this was a lack of composure rather than trying, as they were knocking at the door for most of the match - but the longer they didn't score the try the closer Perpignan were sneaking back into the game, so the kicks were sensible.

17 points up with 16 minutes to go and against 14 men, I think it was worth going for. We missed both kicks and still won comfortably. Perpignan weren't really threatening to score. This group will come down to bonus points and I just thought we lacked that killer instinct. A lack of BP's has been our Achilles heal in the league too. I mean you wouldn't back us to get a losing bonus in France or Exeter with our dire away form. I'm still hopeful we'll make it. I just give Exeter the edge at the moment with their BP in France.

Sorry. That post sounds like I'm not happy with the result. Really pleased. Better than I thought. I just thought that there was an opportunity to really push for the full 5 points. The 2 games v the chiefs will be real battles. Can't wait!

Perpignan have gone downhill, they were a top class outfit last year. I'm not going to call the pool yet though, Dragons still have to go to Exeter and France. I'm still a bit weary of our away form. The Italians should be another 5 points but seeing as there are more weak teams in this competition teams will be racking up 5 pointers left, right and centre. We need points away from home.

Picked us to win but only just so really happy that we won so convincingly. Perpignan didn't really look interested at all and as a few people have mentioned I wish that we had gone for touch when they were down to 14 men to try to nick a bonus point. This group will go right down to the wire and I hope that it doesn't end up with us missing out by a point or 2.
Can't wait for the back to backs against the Chiefs - they are massive games!!! 6 points must be the minimum aim.
STAND UP FOR THE MEN OF GWENT!!

Dragons looked really good, but were Perpignan remotely interested in this game? They are a shadow of the side that played so well in the Hieneken last season!

I am really concerned for Hook, he is clearly way off form. He made some nice breaks but ran up blind alleys and lost his support. He does not seem to know when to pass and when to run. He also made problems for his scrum half as he had no clue as to where Hook was going to be standing!

Hopefully Perpignan will play him at 13 where he can have a bit more time on the ball, he could be an useful goal kicking centre for them, but he is not the answer at 10. At the present moment he would not get into the Wales match day 22!

only watched the game tonight on record. oh dear!!! same old problems seems to be coming around again for hook. ( will he proove all previous coaches right?)

running down the blind alleys,getting isolated. his fans always say someone should be on his shoulder, well sorry guys he runs THE WRONG WAY !
gets turned over, doesnt off load, lets be honest, the french want a kicker so play him anywhere, could even be on the wing for this perpignan side, the replacement 10 was a class apart from hook.

take the money and dont get injured hooky.!!
dont be shocked if he's winging it just to kick the points,

Seagultaf wrote:Dragons looked really good, but were Perpignan remotely interested in this game? They are a shadow of the side that played so well in the Hieneken last season!

I am really concerned for Hook, he is clearly way off form. He made some nice breaks but ran up blind alleys and lost his support. He does not seem to know when to pass and when to run. He also made problems for his scrum half as he had no clue as to where Hook was going to be standing!

Hopefully Perpignan will play him at 13 where he can have a bit more time on the ball, he could be an useful goal kicking centre for them, but he is not the answer at 10. At the present moment he would not get into the Wales match day 22!

Agree with you Seagultaf, apart from the first 20 minutes the Dragons didn't really play very well and still contained Perpignan, so they can't have been too interested. They brought some stars on towards the end while we brought on some youth/academy and they then started to get the ascendancy which is understandable.

Agree about Hook. He doesn't get the back line going. Sometimes you want a 10 to be unflashy and just act as the link man and get the ball out to the creative backs, and I think Hook forgets that sometimes. Priestland does that well. He knows when it needs to go quickly and will stand fairly flat and ship the ball straight away. You don't need to run the ball from 10 all of the time.

Seagultaf wrote:Dragons looked really good, but were Perpignan remotely interested in this game? They are a shadow of the side that played so well in the Hieneken last season!

Well if they weren't interested then they wouldn't of picked one of their strongest lineups, to be fair the Dragons simply out played and beat them, it was nothing to do with motivation.

The Dragons can be a very tough team at home with their Hazell stand behind them, and often play above themselves in a very loud old school enviroment.