Pro14: Scarlets 20-3 Dragons

Scarlets secured their second derby win of the festive season with a laboured victory over Dragons.

Josh Lewis' penalty put Dragons ahead before two Dan Jones kicks put Scarlets in front at the end of a largely forgettable first half.

Dragons lock Matthew Screech was sin binned before Sione Kalamafoni scored Scarlets' opening try.

Sam Costelow sealed the win with Scarlets second try before adding the extras with the final kick.

Scarlets' side showed six changes from their Boxing Day win against Ospreys, but decided to give Wales full-back Liam Williams more time to recover from an ankle injury.

Dragons made two changes from their narrow defeat to Cardiff Blues, with Nick Tompkins and Leon Brown returning but Sam Davies remained absent.

Rhodri Williams was on the bench after finishing his period of self-isolation but Jamie Roberts missed out due to community transmissions.

Josh Lewis opened the scoring for the visitors with a successful penalty after 13 minutes but up until then neither side had carved out any chances of note.

Scarlets were dealt a blow when lock Jake Ball, who announced he will be leaving at the end of the season to join his family in Australia, was forced off through injury.

Both sides were guilty of making basic mistakes in what was a scrappy opening 25 minutes.

Dragons' Jack Dixon and Kieran Hardy of Scarlets compete for the ball

Scarlets' Tongan back-rower Kalamafoni did provide some inspiration with a powerful run but the ball was spilled out wide.

Dan Jones levelled with a penalty before Lewis missed an opportunity to restore the visitors' lead but he pulled his kick wide.

And it was Scarlets who would go in at the break with the advantage thanks to fly-half Jones' second successful penalty.

The second half continued in much the same vein as the opening 40 minutes.

Dragons were reduced to 14 men when Matthew Screech was yellow carded for an off the ball tackle on Wales scrum-half Gareth Davies.

Scarlets took full advantage when they kicked to within five metres of the try line and from the resultant line-out Kalamafoni crossed for the game's long awaited opening try, which Jones converted.

Dragons responded but had no joy and it was Scarlets who had the last word as replacement fly-half Costelow not only sprinted over for the second try but also converted.

Scarlets head coach Glenn Delaney said:

"It was a compelling contest of a different nature and there were a lot of errors out there for sure.

"The derby games are pretty unique and they bring out the best and the worst in terms of the individual competition and contest. You saw a full blooded set of blokes out there committed to what they were trying to do.

"Defensively I thought we were resolute and we didn't feel like we were in too much danger there but we would have liked to have done a little bit more with the ball."

Dragons director of rugby Dean Ryan said:

"I was pretty proud of us. Given the disruption we had so early, three changes in the backline a 19-year-old kid never played in the Pro14 and we looked pretty solid, knew what we were doing and I think we were very physical.

"We had moments where we could have got into that game. We are now competitive most weeks and are getting competitive irrespective of who's on the field.

"Because our disruption over the last two or three weeks has just been phenomenal."

Scarlets: O'Brien; Prydie, Morgan, Hughes (capt), Evans; D Jones, Hardy; W Jones, Elias, Sebastian, Ball, Lousi, Thomson, Davis, Kalamafoni

Replacements: M Jones, Price, Scholtz, Ratuva, Kennedy, Davies, Costelow, Asquith

Dragons: Holmes; Jenkins, Tompkins, Dixon, Hewitt; Lewis, Knoyle; Harris, Dee, Brown, Carter, Screech, Keddie (capt), Basham, Wainwright

Replacements: Hibbard, Jarvis, Fairbrother, Davies, Taylor, Williams, Owen, Lloyd

Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU)

Assistant referees: Adam Jones, Gwyn Morris (both WRU)

TMO: Wayne Davies (WRU)

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