United Rugby Championship: Cardiff 31-14 Dragons

Cardiff maintained their iron-grip on this south Wales derby with a bonus-point victory over Dragons at the Arms Park.

Josh Adams marked his return with the opening try before Rhys Carre and James Botham followed in the first half.

Angus O'Brien and Bradley Roberts replied either side of half-time before Thomas Young sealed Cardiff's win with a late fourth try.

However there was concern for Wales with Taine Basham and Adams injured.

The Dragons had not won this fixture since 2014 - a desperate losing run of 14 games - and despite a bright start, they faced an uphill task early on when Cardiff crossed twice in the space of four minutes.

Wales wing Adams showed no ill-effects of the groin injury that sidelined him for the previous two weeks as he skipped past four defenders to score the game's opening try.

Jason Harries and Young made in-roads before Jarrod Evans' long pass found Adams out wide, and the wing did the rest, stepping inside O'Brien before surging over.

That will no doubt have pleased Wayne Pivac, among the 8,161 Arms Park crowd with the rest of his Wales coaching staff.

Pivac will also have welcomed the form of Uilisi Halaholo whose turnover ultimately lead to Cardiff's second try on 16 minutes.

Dragons have the second worst turnover record in the league and when O'Brien was penalised for holding on under pressure from Halaholo, Cardiff were handed the chance to strike again.

They were clinical with the opportunity, Shane Lewis-Hughes tapping down the lineout to Tomos Williams who found prop Carre peeling around on his shoulder to crash over.

Angus O'Brien celebrates scoring Dragons first try

Dragons simply had to strike next and they found a way back, stemming from their outstanding lineout.

Basham and Jack Dixon were both denied on the line but some stirring Cardiff defence. Hooker Roberts was also heavily involved before O'Brien split two defenders to cross.

Having dragged themselves back into the contest, Dragons lost momentum when they were reduced to 14 men with Rhodri Williams' yellow card after what felt an interminable delay to an interesting contest.

From the resulting penalty, Cardiff again took their chance, attacking left and then right, where James Botham, only just on as a temporary replacement, scored with only his second touch.

Wales worries

For all the positives on display, there was concern for Pivac with two potential Wales starters leaving in the space of eight minutes either side of half-time.

First Basham departed with what appeared a serious arm injury before Adams signalled he needed to come off after aggravating an earlier damaged wrist.

Trailing 21-7, Dragons were in dire need of a response and got it through Ross Moriarty and Aki Seiuli.

The pair combined to split Cardiff's defence, Dragons surged forward before Roberts burrowed over from close range for a deserved score.

However needless penalties were to hurt the visitors and undermined any hope of a comeback.

Evans slotted a 71st-minute penalty before his break immediately from the re-start ended with flanker Young galloping clear from half-way to seal the win and clinch a late bonus point.

Cardiff head coach Dai Young said:

"We're really happy that we've built on last week's win at Scarlets which was based on defence, but this week we played some rugby and fired some shots of our own.

"It was a great finish by Josh [Adams] and there are not many better ball carrying props in Wales right now than Rhys Carre.

"I still think we left some points out there and the set-piece was a little shaky but we managed things better and dug in to find a way to get it done."

Dragons head coach Dai Flanagan said:

"We gave Cardiff easy-ins. I don't think they had to do much to get what they got, so we have to do better.

"We were fully in that game, physically there were areas we dominated but our discipline in the last 15 minutes needed to be better. We were diving in when we didn't need to. Amid the chaos you need clarity.

"I'm the head coach, I now the problems and I need to find the solutions."

Cardiff: Rhys Priestland; Jason Harries, Max Llewellyn, Uilisi Halaholo, Josh Adams; Jarrod Evans, Tomos Williams; Rhys Carré, Kristian Dacey, Dmitri Arhip, Josh Turnbull (captain), Seb Davies, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Thomas Young, Taulupe Faletau.

Replacements: Kirby Myhill, Corey Domachowski, Dillon Lewis, Matthew Screech, James Botham, Lloyd Williams, Mason Grady, Aled Summerhill.

Dragons: Angus O'Brien; Rio Dyer, Sio Tomkinson, Jack Dixon, Jarred Rosser; JJ Hanrahan, Rhodri Williams; Aki Seiuli, Bradley Roberts, Lloyd Fairbrother, Ben Carter, Will Rowlands (captain), Sean Lonsdale, Taine Basham, Ross Moriarty.

Replacements: Elliot Dee, Rhodri Jones, Chris Coleman, Aaron Wainwright, Harrison Keddie, Gonzalo Bertranou, Steff Hughes, Jordan Williams.

Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)

Assistant referees: Adam Jones & Rhys Jones (WRU)

TMO: Jon Mason (WRU)

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