Pro14: Dragons 18-5 Glasgow Warriors

Ashton Hewitt takes on Warriors' fly-half Brandon Thomson

Dragons battled to an 18-5 win over Glasgow Warriors in wet and chilly conditions at Rodney Parade.

Tries early in the second half from flanker Taine Basham and wing Ashton Hewitt proved decisive.

Fly-half Sam Davies converted one to add to two first-half penalties in a mistake-ridden game.

Replacement centre Huw Jones' 81st minute try was little consolation for Glasgow as they lost to Dragons in the Pro14 for the first time since 2014.

It was a first home win for Dragons' director of rugby Dean Ryan, who saw his side cope with the miserable weather far more effectively, while Warriors' boss Dave Rennie could be forgiven of dreaming of his possible next employment with Australia.

Davies' early short-range penalty and a monster wind-assisted kick after 34 minutes provided the only scores of the first half, with Jordan Williams' kick and chase the closest effort to a try.

Glasgow had nothing to show for some early ambition despite the prompting of Glenn Bryce from the back, while flanker Adam Ashe departed with a head knock just five minutes into his first game of the season.

Fingertip touchdown

After a drab first half, Basham's score converted by Davies on 42 minutes was a welcome tonic, the flanker scrambling over after Ashton Hewitt's clean break down the middle from a subtle Rhodri Williams switch.

Hewitt then secured a fingertip touchdown in a chaotic scramble, following up after man-of-the match Ollie Griffiths charged down an attempted Brandon Thomson clearance.

Cold hands and a slippery ball meant an 18-point lead looked decisive with half an hour left and clean breaks from Glasgow number eight Matt Fagerson and Dragons centre Adam Warren came to nothing.

Glasgow lock Kiran McDonald had a touchdown disallowed in the 79th minute, but replacement centre Jones sped over two minutes later to ensure the visitors got a token reward for their efforts.

Dragons assistant coach Barry Maddocks: "Tactically we looked at the kicking game, we looked at their back three being very dangerous on the run and not kicking much.

"But the other key ingredient was the scrum being much better, the driving lineout was a key factor, and we were a bit more patient.

"It's really good the boys have responded well from the Connacht defeat, learning lessons about adapting to the conditions and weather.

"[Back-row] Ollie Griffiths is an outstanding player who leads from the front, he's consistent in his performances but getting him consistently on the pitch is the next key thing after injuries."

Glasgow coach Dave Rennie: "We kicked poorly, we didn't have the ball for long enough and didn't build any pressure, we lost a lot of those key battles.

"We'll have five Scotland World Cup players back next week plus DTH van der Merwe, another half-dozen the week after. We had a good enough side on the field to win well, but we weren't good enough.

"We know we can turn it round, there's 21 rounds (in the Pro14 league season), we've traditionally been flyers but we'll have to chase from behind this year."

Dragons: J Williams; O Jenkins, Warren, Dixon, Hewitt; S Davies, R Williams (capt); Harris, Hibbard, Brown, J Davies, Screech, H Taylor, Basham, Griffiths.

Replacements: Lawrence, Reynolds, Fairbrother, M Williams, Benjamin, Baldwin, Robson, T Morgan.

Glasgow Warriors: Bryce, Steyn, Grigg, McDowall, Matawalu, Thomson, Frisby, Kebble, Stewart, Nicol, Harley, McDonald, Ashe, Gibbons (capt), M Fagerson.

Replacements: Matthews, Allan, Rae, Davidson, Fusaro, Dobie, Jones, Jackson.

Referee: George Clancy (IRFU)

Assistants: Simon Rees (WRU). Chris Busby (IRFU)

TMO: Simon McDowell (IRFU)