United Rugby Championship: Lions 49-24 Dragons - Welsh region succumb to another big loss in South Africa

Back row Aaron Wainwright tries to spark a Dragons attack against Lions

A poor second half saw Dragons succumb to a successive heavy United Rugby Championship defeat in South Africa.

Dragons had been in the contest at half-time and were boosted by a red card for Lions lock Ruben Schoeman.

But basic errors once again cost Dai Flanagan's injury-hit side as they leaked six tries in Johannesburg.

Dragons return home having conceded 118 points on their mini-tour, with attention now turning to the start of their European Challenge Cup campaign.

Flanagan spoke midweek about starting well after a record 69-14 defeat to Sharks in Durban, but the game plan went out the window just a few minutes in.

Scrum-half Rhodri Williams was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on after some patient build-up play from the hosts.

But it was Dragons who drew first blood. Aneurin Owen, a late call-up to the starting XV, charged down Sanele Nohamba's kick before bursting into the Lions half.

Aaron Wainwright showed good gas to get into the 22 before offloading to Jordan Williams who was brought down inches short of the line. Dragons recycled quickly which allowed Harri Keddie to crash over from close range.

Dragons continued to throw the ball around in the Ellis Park sunshine, but a loose kick from Steff Hughes saw an intercept which gave Henco van Wyk an 80-metre canter to the line.

Nohamba missed the conversion, but was on target soon after when Keddie was penalised for being off his feet.

The first half's main talking point came 25 minutes in when Schoeman's clumsy attempt at a charge down saw his elbow make contact with Dragons wing Ashton Hewitt's head. The Lions second row was given his marching orders on review.

With fire in their bellies Dragons looked promising in attack, but Lions - as they did all afternoon - took advantage of a basic error.

A knock-on saw the ball shipped out to Richard Kriel who burst down his wing before cutting inside and offloading to Quan Horn, who shrugged off some poor tackling to run in unopposed.

A galvanised Lions team added to their score with a Nohamba penalty which was cancelled out by Will Reed's boot on the stroke of half-time.

• Scarlets complete double against 14-man Cardiff

Despite what may have been said in the dressing room, Dragons again got off to a poor start after the break, this time hooker Bradley Roberts was shown a yellow card for a cynical trip on Marius Louw.

It went from bad to worse when Lions were gifted a try. Rio Dyer failed to take a high ball with the resulting knock-on falling into the grateful hands of Francke Horn, who sent Edwill van der Merwe on his way.

Dragons, to their credit, hit back with a try started and finished by Hewitt, who looked lively all afternoon.

He backed his speed down the wing before passing inside to Dyer. The move looked to have lost momentum, but the ball found its way back out to Hewitt who was able to run in to bring the visitors' deficit back down to eight points.

The match then suffered a lengthy delay as the television match official struggled to find footage of Matthew Screech and PJ Botha clashing heads - both probably breathing a sigh of relief.

When play eventually resumed, Dragons came agonisingly close to the try line when Dyer broke the defence before offloading to Jordon Williams who could not find the miracle offload.

Lions then halted hopes of a comeback when Kriel latched onto a looping pass before evading some poor tackling from Hewitt and Hughes, then passing inside for Morne van den Berg to wrap up the bonus point.

Dragons would not be written off, though, and set up a dramatic end for the sparse crowd when they scored off a driving lineout, Roberts making amends for his earlier ill-discipline.

But Lions had other ideas, energetic replacement Rabz Maxwane took full advantage of another knock-on to send Francke Horn in. Jordan Hendrikse also added a spark from the bench, breaking free from an overthrown lineout to send Van der Merwe in for his second.

It was a painful tour results-wise for the Welsh region, but with 16 players unavailable they will be hoping to have a few back when their European campaign starts against Oyonnax on 9 December.

Speaking on viaplay after the match, Dragons head coach Dai Flanagan said: "We were just really inaccurate. It's frustrating because there were opportunities galore.

"We've just got to catch the ball, we've just got to make a tackle, we've got to work on that individually and collectively.

"It's a massive missed opportunity for us, purely through accuracy, both sides of the ball."

Lions: Quan Horn; Richard Kriel, Henco van Wyk, Marius Louw (capt), Edwill van der Merwe; Sanele Nohamba, Morne van den Berg; JP Smith, PJ Botha, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Ruben Schoeman, Ruan Delport, Emmanuel Tshituka, Ruan Venter, Francke Horn.

Replacements: Jaco Visagie, Corne Fourie, Ruan Smith, Willem Alberts, Hanru Sirgel, JC Pretorius, Jordan Hendrikse, Rabz Maxwane

Dragons: Jordan Williams; Rio Dyer, Steff Hughes (capt), Aneurin Owen, Ashton Hewitt; Will Reed, Rhodri Williams; Rhodri Jones, Bradley Roberts, Lloyd Fairbrother, Matthew Screech, George Nott, Sean Lonsdale, Harri Keddie, Aaron Wainwright.

Replacements: James Benjamin, Aki Seiuli, Luke Yendle, Joe Davies, Ryan Woodman, Dane Blacker, Ewan Rosser, Cory Baldwin

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)

Assistant referees: Stephan Geldenhuys & Hanru van Rooyen (SARU)

TMO: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)

• THE CROSSBOW KILLER: Investigating the case of a Welsh murder stranger than fiction

• DEATH OF A CODEBREAKER: The man found naked & dead inside a bag