Pro14 Judgement Day: Dragons stun Scarlets 34-32 to damage their Euro dream

Dragons celebrate beating Scarlets

Dragons stunned Scarlets with a 34-32 victory at Judgement Day in a nine-try thriller.

A late Matthew Screech try and Jason Tovey conversion sealed the win for the Gwent region.

Rhys Patchell's last-gasp drop-goal went wide as the Dragons celebrated their first league win away from Rodney Parade since March 2015.

Scarlets picked up two losing bonus points to set up a Pro14 play-off against Ospreys.

Dragons have nothing else to contemplate this season, but can look back on this as the highlight of an often difficult campaign.

They departed to celebrate a fifth win of the season with Screech scoring two tries and further efforts from Jack Dixon and Josh Lewis, who kicked 17 points.

Two tries from Scarlets wing Johnny McNicholl were complemented by scores from Ioan Nicholas, Gareth Davies and Jonathan Davies with Leigh Halfpenny adding seven points.

Scarlets have qualified for Europe's top tier every season since the inception of regional rugby in 2003. Pivac's side were Pro12 Champions two years ago and Champions Cup semi-finalists last season, but have been a shadow of that side during this campaign.

Pivac made one change with lock David Bulbring replacing the injured Lewis Rawlins while prop Lloyd Fairbrother and lock Joe Davies returned to Dragons' starting side.

Josh Lewis opened the scoring with two penalties before Wales wing Hallam Amos, playing in his last Dragons game before joining Cardiff Blues next season, was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on.

Scarlets took advantage of their numerical advantage with two tries and 12 points while Amos was off the field.

Wing Nicholas first crossed despite a huge tackle from Ross Moriarty on Josh Macleod in the build-up. Leigh Halfpenny converted to give Scarlets the lead.

McNicholl finished expertly to score the second in the right-hand corner after a flowing backline move as the Scarlets took advantage of where Amos would have been positioned.

Scarlets led 17-6 at the interval and Dragons were denied an early second-half try after Moriarty was deemed to have knocked the ball forward in the act of scoring.

Referee Ben Whitehouse and television match official Tim Hayes made the decision after numerous replays.

Johnny McNicholl touches down Scarlets' second try

The Gwent region were rewarded with a try for lock Screech which Lewis converted while Bulbring was yellow-carded.

Scarlets back-rower Blade Thomson, who had not played since November because of concussion issues, replaced Macleod.

Lewis' long-range penalty hit the post, but after Leigh Halfpenny's long-range clearance kick was collected by Moriarty, the Dragons counter-attacked and Aaron Wainwright set up a try for Jack Dixon.

Scarlets' second-half capitulation continued as Lewis intercepted a Dan Jones pass and sprinted away to score a converted try as Dragons recorded 21 points in nine minutes.

It was Jones' last action of the game as he was replaced by Wales fly-half Rhys Patchell who made an immediate impact. Bulbring also returned as Dragons scored 14 points while Scarlets were down to 14 men.

Scarlets responded with an opportunist, bonus-point try from Wales centre Jonathan Davies before McNicholl sprinted over for his second score.

Halfpenny converted to give Scarlets the lead again before adding a penalty to increase the advantage to five points.

A dramatic finale saw the Dragons throw everything at the Scarlets with relentless attacking phase rugby and Screech crossed for his second score.

The decision was only made after countless replays which ruled out a knock-on in the build-up and also judged Screech had reached the line.

Scarlets looked for a crucial winning score from kick-off but Patchell's drop-goal attempt went agonisingly wide for his side for Dragons to celebrate a famous win.

Dragons: Jordan Williams; Zane Kirchner, Adam Warren, Jack Dixon, Hallam Amos; Josh Lewis, Rhodri Williams; Ryan Bevington, Elliot Dee (c), Lloyd Fairbrother, Joe Davies, Matthew Screech, Lewis Evans, Aaron Wainwright, Ross Moriarty

Replacements: Richard Hibbard, Brok Harris, Leon Brown, Max Williams, Taine Basham, Tavis Knoyle, Jason Tovey, Jared Rosser

Scarlets: Leigh Halfpenny; Johnny McNicholl, Jonathan Davies, Hadleigh Parkes, Ioan Nicholas; Dan Jones, Gareth Davies; Wyn Jones, Ken Owens (capt), Samson Lee, David Bulbrings, Steve Cummins, Will Boyde, Josh Macleod, Uzair Cassiem

Replacements: Marc Jones, Phil Price, Werner Kruger, Blade Thomson, Josh Helps, Kieran Hardy, Rhys Patchell, Kieron Fonotia.

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)

Assistant referees: Adam Jones (WRU), Rhys Jones (WRU)

TMO: Tim Hayes (WRU)