Cardiff ease to 19th league derby win over Dragons

United Rugby Championship

Cardiff (17) 31

Tries: Mann, Millard, Sheedy, Lee-Lo Cons: Sheedy 4 Pens: Sheedy

Dragons (9) 23

Tries: Lloyd, Seiuli Cons: O'Brien 2 Pens: O'Brien 3

Cardiff extended their remarkable grip on this fixture with a 19th successive league win over neighbours Dragons.

Much of this United Rugby Championship Welsh derby was scrappy, error-strewn and penalty-ridden.

But when Cardiff strung their passes together, they were simply too good for Dragons and picked up a bonus point to climb the table.

Filo Tiatia, in his first game in charge of the visitors, now knows the scale of the challenge.

He became the fifth Dragons coach to come a cropper in this losing run against Cardiff that stretches back a decade to 26 December, 2014.

If Dragons had been hoping to experience a bounce under a new coach, it lasted just 30 minutes and they failed to capitalise.

Instead Cardiff turned the game on its head with four tries in the 20 minutes either side of half-time.

Alex Mann, just minutes after taking the field, and Callum Sheedy scored their first club tries either side of Harri Millard’s fourth of the season.

Rey Lee-Lo then finished a clever penalty move for the 30th try of his Cardiff career.

Dragons rallied late on through their replacements Morgan Lloyd and Aki Seiuli, but it was too little, too late to salvage anything from the match.

Both coaches would have been scratching their heads at just how Cardiff led by eight at the break.

Dragons dominated all but 10 minutes, centre Aneurin Owen threatened and they had the hosts down to 14 men as penalties mounted.

But captain Angus O'Brien missed two straight-forward early penalties to go 15-3 ahead and Cardiff showed them how to finish with two tries before half-time.

Mann latched onto Dafydd Hughes’ pass from a line-out drive before Millard gathered Ben Thomas’ pass off his ankles and stepped past three defenders to score.

The only consolation for the Dragons was that it was an improvement – of sorts – from their last visit here when they conceded a record equalling seven tries in a first-half festive capitulation in 2023.

Josh Adams made his first appearance in six months after a hernia operation and looked rusty, knocking on with his first touch and scuffing a kick with his second.

But it was his burst through midfield and Cam Winnett’s clever pass that set up Sheedy for the third before Lee-Lo scored from a penalty five metres out.

Dragons replacement scrum-half Morgan Lloyd was full of zip and adventure, scoring a try and making the break that led to a second.

But the gulf in confidence between these sides was larger than the difference in score as Cardiff claimed back-to-back league wins at the Arms Park for the first time in more than two years.

Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt said: "It was a job done. After a month off, a lot of boys away with Wales and Dragons coming here full of motivation with a new coach, it was a banana skin that we were pretty worried about, so we'll take the win.

"The boys showed a lot of effort but perhaps not that much quality, but we'll take the five points and move on."

Dragons interim head coach Filo Tiatia said: "We're disappointed. We created a lot of pressure in the first half but we didn't capitalise on our opportunities.

"I was pleased with a lot of the decision-making but we need to learn how to make sure you score points when you have your foot on their throat.

"I enjoyed the character shown late on and the young guys coming off the bench gave us an edge but we were chasing the game."

Cardiff: Winnett; Adams, Lee-Lo, Thomas (capt), Millard; Sheedy, A Davies; Byrne, Hughes, Assiratti, McNally, Williams, Donnell, Young, Lawrence.

Replacements: Lloyd, Domachowski, Litterick, S Davies, Mann, Bevan, Jennings, Hamer-Webb.

Sin bin: McNally (34)

Dragons: O’Brien (capt); Dyer, Westwood, Owen, J Rosser; Evans, Williams; Martinez, Coghlan, Coleman, Screech, Nott, Lewis-Hughes, Basham, Wainwright.

Replacements: Benjamin, Seiuli, Arhip, Davies, Woodman, Lloyd, Wilson, Anderson.

Sin bin: Coughlan (40)

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)

Assistant referees: Craig Evans & Mike English (WRU)

TMO: Aled Griffiths (WRU)