Newport Gwent Dragons v Glasgow Warriors, 25 February

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Newport Gwent Dragons v Glasgow Warriors
Thursday 25 February 2016
KO 19:05
Rodders Parade

Live on BBC Wales and BBC Alba

Referee: Gary Conway (IRFU, 22nd competition game)
Assistant Referees: Leighton Hodges, Dai Cambourne (WRU)
Citing Commissioner: Aurwel Morgan (WRU)
TMO: Paul Adams (WRU)

A. Head to Head

25 Played 25
13 Wins 10
10 Losses 13
2 Draws 2
479 Points 545

B. Form

Glasgow Warriors 29 - 15 Newport Gwent Dragons
16th October 2015

Glasgow Warriors 19 - 15 Newport Gwent Dragons
30th November 2014

Newport Gwent Dragons 13 - 33 Glasgow Warriors
20th September 2014

C. Teams
Newport Gwent Dragons 

Carl Meyer, Ashton Hewitt, Adam Hughes, Adam Warren, Nick Scott, Angus O'Brien, Sarel Pretorius; Phil Price, Thomas Rhys Thomas (capt), Brok Harris, Cory Hill, Matthew Screech, Nick Crosswell, Nic Cudd, Lewis Evans.

Replacements: Rhys Buckley, Hugh Gustafson, Lloyd Fairbrother, Rynard Landman, James Benjamin, Charlie Davies, Geraint Rhys Jones, Ross Wardle.

Glasgow Warriors

Peter Murchie; Taqele Naiyaravoro, Glenn Bryce, Alex Dunbar, Rory Hughes; Duncan Weir, Mike Blair; Jerry Yanuyanutawa, Fraser Brown, Sila Puafisi, Greg Peterson, Leone Nakarawa, Rob Harley, Simon Favaro, Josh Strauss (capt).

Replacements: James Malcolm, Gordon Reid, Zander Ferguson, James Eddie, Chris Fusaro, Grayson Hart, Fraser Lyle, Lee Jones.

Well done on the win Glasgow. A bit more power through the middle the main difference today. Dragons were pretty rubbish. Couldn't finish anything first half when we were in the oppo 22 a number of times. Good defence by Glasgow.

But not a great game. Awful pitch. How long will we persevere with 3 teams playing on this pitch? It's making it hard for everyone. Ridiculous.

Terrible game for Glasgow. Ref was uneven. Reid's try in the eyes of the law is probably not however Naka did it several times beforehand and he did not say a word.

The Dragons did okay, generally kicking their penalties and offering little threat. Disappointed not to get 5 looking at the line-ups but how the teams played, 4 points is enough. Newport arguably were worth the point. They got it anyhow.

Naka had a poor first half (as did a few Glasgow players) and the second half was much better. Not sure who man of the match should go to really. No one really stood out. Dunbar did not do anything wrong. Guess Dunbar got a good try and did a few positive things.

Dragons didn't deserve an LBP. Lyn Jones half time chats again. Dire game.

Newport RFC shouldn't have played last week by the sounds? Certainly wrecked the pitch, though to be fair they've had loads of postponements already. Good help county on Saturday on that.

Congrats Glasgow anyway. Certainly the better of the two teams tonight.

Scrappy game but a win is a win. Both sides could feel aggrieved not to have had more penalties - how many times was the dragons midfield offside and how many times did they obstruct - however any more pens and it would have been ridiculous.

So all the folk who don't rate meatball - how many more good gamers can he have before he gets some credit?  Did a lot of good stuff today both in attack and defense and not many mistakes.  This is what he needs - a run of starts.  You can see his confidence growing.

7 tackles - 2nd highest after Strauss ( 2 missed)

Glasgow massively on top in the stats 478 m to 208! 17 turnovers by Glasgow tho - 17 FFS
- 25 penalties in the game!  Good job the ref missed a few for both sides

TJ wrote:So all the folk who don't rate meatball - how many more good gamers can he have before he gets some credit?  Did a lot of good stuff today both in attack and defense and not many mistakes.  This is what he needs - a run of starts.  You can see his confidence growing.

7 tackles - 2nd highest after Strauss ( 2 missed)

Yes, he seems to be a confidence player and attacked the gainline tonight as well as I've ever seen him do it - I wonder if someone has told him that a top flight career is over for him unless he does.

I did spot that his goalkicking stats were languishing at around 56% this season, which really is not good enough but to his credit he acknowledged that in the post-match interview.

Am in two minds as to what he'll do for Edinburgh. His 'new' running game still seems very frantic and I'm always afraid that he'll throw an intercept when under pressure - conversely his restarts were superb and his game management good, although it is clear that receiving from a wise old head like Mike Blair (and probably by extension,  Henry Pyrgos) makes his job a lot easier.

Well done Dragons - I actually thought that they really attacked when they had the ball and kept clipping over the penalties. I thought for a while that this would be like those Cardiff Blues games in last season's European competition where Sam Davies kicked us to two defeats just because we made too many mistakes.

A lot of Glasgow players shaking off the ring rustiness tonight and it really showed. Dunbar looked strong. Will be a bummer if Big Tacky has to take some time off to see through concussion protocols. Harley got through a lot of work too and his value in being an A1 rear lineout jumper showed itself yet again.

I'll take the 4 points but it's a bit ominous that the likes of Munster also now have a game in hand and are level pegging with us.

I think meatball needs regular first team rugby - he simply has not had that at Glasgow. This is the first run of starts he has had pretty much. I am looking forward to him coming to Edinburgh - we need a ten and he needs a starting spot

Agree that Meatball was good again tonight. He's enjoying a decent run at the moment and deserves credit. Still not an international player for my money.

Strauss was useful again, setting up the clinching score with a great run and pass (albeit terrible tackling). I really do think Cotter has made a stupid decision deeming Wilson a better impact sub.

Well done Glasgow, needed the win and got the win. Not the sort of game for a WBP, and the Dragons fought pretty well.

Went out for dinner tonight, being my birthday and all that. Just watched the game when I got back.

Not one for the classic CD collection, but on any balanced view we deserved the points. Have to say the ref and the pitch were awful and it worries me more than a bit that we will get similarly bogged down at Scotstoun if we are back playing there compared to how we did on the plastic pitch. We can't get one down quick enough in my mind, you just can't play high tempo rugby in quicksand!

So take the points and move on. Toonie reckoned we needed at least 7 wins for a play off place. Well that's 2 of them out of the way.

See if Edinburgh can't do us a favour on sunday!

Bit of a Curate's egg of a game.

The ref gave far too many "picky" penalties but missed a huge number of glaring offsides and obstructions. Apparently the IRB wallahs really rate him.

Griff, I was actually quite pleasantly surprised by the way the Dragons tried to run the ball out of defence in the first half and looked to go wide if it was possible. However, when they got close to the Glasgow line they just couldn't find the cutting edge and were never going to score.
Glasgow, on the other hand, should have scored more. I think they forgot the old adage about needing to go North-South before you go East-West. Possibly they didn't treat the Dragons with enough respect, looking for four tries before they had earned them.

As far as play-off places go may I once again recommend the excellent On Top Of The Moon site? Yesterday morning it was pointing out that at the same stage last season Glasgow were only one point ahead of were they were yesterday. So, eight games to go and five wins needed; with Blues (H), Treviso (A), Zebra (H&A) looking very winnable, and Leinster (H) and Ulster(H) looking like possible wins (but I'd settle for a win and a LBP there), while Scarlets and Craggie Island Second XV both away could easily produce 0 points.

Our next two games are at home; Cardiff then Leinster. If we win them then we're on a winning run ( four pro-12 and Racing 92) and about to welcome the Scotland players back this would be a very good position to be in. However, if we lose the next two then we're probably looking at needing to win our matches against Ulster, Scarlets and Connacht. A very big ask.

Gee; a belated Hippo Birdie Two Ewes. Don't hold your breath for the Luvvies to do anything other than roll over and die on Sunday.

Cheers Jim, a good summary of the game there I think. We often fall away in the 2nd half of games. Maybe a fitness thing. One thing I noticed was the size difference between the two sides. Pretty much man for man, or position for position, your boys looked much bigger and more powerful, and I think that told in the end. Our attacks were repelled fairly easily and we struggled to make yards while you often made ground only to knock on or turn over, but when it went well you got some points (e.g. Dunbar try).

BigGee wrote:Went out for dinner tonight, being my birthday and all that. Just watched the game when I got back.

Not one for the classic CD collection, but on any balanced view we deserved the points. Have to say the ref and the pitch were awful and it worries me more than a bit that we will get similarly bogged down at Scotstoun if we are back playing there compared to how we did on the plastic pitch. We can't get one down quick enough in my mind, you just can't play high tempo rugby in quicksand!

So take the points and move on. Toonie reckoned we needed at least 7 wins for a play off place. Well that's 2 of them out of the way.

See if Edinburgh can't do us a favour on sunday!

Happy Birthday Biggee - has the telegram from the queen arrived yet?

Griff wrote:Cheers Jim, a good summary of the game there I think. We often fall away in the 2nd half of games. Maybe a fitness thing. One thing I noticed was the size difference between the two sides. Pretty much man for man, or position for position, your boys looked much bigger and more powerful, and I think that told in the end. Our attacks were repelled  fairly easily and we struggled to make yards while you often made ground only to knock on or turn over, but when it went well you got some points (e.g. Dunbar try).

So, I'm not rude anymore?

Griff wrote:Cheers Jim, a good summary of the game there I think. We often fall away in the 2nd half of games. Maybe a fitness thing. One thing I noticed was the size difference between the two sides. Pretty much man for man, or position for position, your boys looked much bigger and more powerful, and I think that told in the end. Our attacks were repelled  fairly easily and we struggled to make yards while you often made ground only to knock on or turn over, but when it went well you got some points (e.g. Dunbar try).

There's your fitness thing right there

RDW_Scotland wrote:

BigGee wrote:Went out for dinner tonight, being my birthday and all that. Just watched the game when I got back.

Not one for the classic CD collection, but on any balanced view we deserved the points. Have to say the ref and the pitch were awful and it worries me more than a bit that we will get similarly bogged down at Scotstoun if we are back playing there compared to how we did on the plastic pitch. We can't get one down quick enough in my mind, you just can't play high tempo rugby in quicksand!

So take the points and move on. Toonie reckoned we needed at least 7 wins for a play off place. Well that's 2 of them out of the way.

See if Edinburgh can't do us a favour on sunday!

Happy Birthday Biggee - has the telegram from the queen arrived yet?

Half a telegram arrived a couple of years back, no more official birthdays until I am 60 now and that will be combined with a retirement party I hope!

Had a nice day actually, a sub zero thirty miles on the bike in the morning followed by a nice pizza in the evening with the family, I can recommend a very authentic Italian place in Walthamstow if any of you ever down E17 way. Finished up with a Glasgow win, what's not to like!

May I start by thanking the Dragons for being good hosts. Plenty of banter in the Bisley stand despite their being only 5 Warriors fans that I could see (including our party of 3).

Top tip - never stand up and cheer like mentalists when Reid scores a try......then it's disallowed. Jesus we got some sh!t for that.

As mentioned above, Glasgow were just bigger, stronger, fitter etc but really did make hard work of it. Dragons never really looked like scoring a try and the pitch was a disgrace.

All in all, it was a pretty poor game.

Can anybody say what happened to Strauss? He looked in quite a bit of pain.

I thought Hart played quite well when he came on for Blair, if he keeps that form up then Glasgow have a decent selection of scrumhalves now with Price and Pyrgos as well. Not much depth though at 10 with Weir going so that will have to be addressed.

BigGee wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:

BigGee wrote:Went out for dinner tonight, being my birthday and all that. Just watched the game when I got back.

Not one for the classic CD collection, but on any balanced view we deserved the points. Have to say the ref and the pitch were awful and it worries me more than a bit that we will get similarly bogged down at Scotstoun if we are back playing there compared to how we did on the plastic pitch. We can't get one down quick enough in my mind, you just can't play high tempo rugby in quicksand!

So take the points and move on. Toonie reckoned we needed at least 7 wins for a play off place. Well that's 2 of them out of the way.

See if Edinburgh can't do us a favour on sunday!

Happy Birthday Biggee - has the telegram from the queen arrived yet?

Half a telegram arrived a couple of years back, no more official birthdays until I am 60 now and that will be combined with a retirement party I hope!

Had a nice day actually, a sub zero thirty miles on the bike in the morning followed by a nice pizza in the evening with the family, I can recommend a very authentic Italian place in Walthamstow if any of you ever down E17 way. Finished up with a Glasgow win, what's not to like!

Am I the only poster on here just a little bit fat and unfit!!?

That said I walked from Newhaven to Charlotte Square this morning (stopping at Pret for a coffee and croissant). That's at least two miles. Be impressed.

Overall the right result. I was impressed by the Dragons and can see why they managed to run Ulster so close in Belfast.

On Gordy's try though, I just don't understand it. That's been his trademark ever since he was at Ayr. He scored a cracking 40m try a few years back at Firhill against the Dragons doing just that. And very nearly scored again at Munster a couple of seasons ago when we won out there. If it's now been decided that it's illegal, will we ever get to see the Gordy Shuffle again?

jimbopip wrote:

Griff wrote:Cheers Jim, a good summary of the game there I think. We often fall away in the 2nd half of games. Maybe a fitness thing. One thing I noticed was the size difference between the two sides. Pretty much man for man, or position for position, your boys looked much bigger and more powerful, and I think that told in the end. Our attacks were repelled  fairly easily and we struggled to make yards while you often made ground only to knock on or turn over, but when it went well you got some points (e.g. Dunbar try).

So, I'm not rude anymore?

You're off the hook

Griff wrote:

jimbopip wrote:

Griff wrote:Cheers Jim, a good summary of the game there I think. We often fall away in the 2nd half of games. Maybe a fitness thing. One thing I noticed was the size difference between the two sides. Pretty much man for man, or position for position, your boys looked much bigger and more powerful, and I think that told in the end. Our attacks were repelled  fairly easily and we struggled to make yards while you often made ground only to knock on or turn over, but when it went well you got some points (e.g. Dunbar try).

So, I'm not rude anymore?

You're off the hook

Senlac wrote:Overall the right result.  I was impressed by the Dragons and can see why they managed to run Ulster so close in Belfast.

That was a heartbreaker. We led from gun to tap (that's almost gun to tape, but not quite).