By Gareth James
Dean Ryan insists the Dragons’ shock 38-27 win away at the Scarlets was just reward for their efforts during a long, barren winless streak.
The Dragons’ victory was only their second of the season as they won for their first time at Parc y Scarlets in 14 visits.
Tries from Jack Dixon, Taine Basham, Jared Rosser, Taylor Davies and Rhodri Williams – that included an unanswered 17-point blast in the final ten minutes – saw the Men of Gwent sweep to a 38-27 win.
“I’m more pleased for others, for people that work so hard, fans, the chairman (David Buttress),” said director of rugby Ryan.
“The players have had moments like that and not been able to close it out, so they deserve their time in the sun enjoying that.
“Some of our big players stood up. Will Rowlands was outstanding along with Ben Carter, who is still a young man let’s not forget.
“Derbies are about internationals standing up and about those who work on the fringes being noticed, and we did all that.
Final score
a first win for the Dragons at Parc y Sgarlets, and a 2nd win of the season
what a bonkers game @scarlets_rugby 27@dragonsrugby 38@URCOfficial pic.twitter.com/bii5q325ML
— Ioan Dyer (@Ioan_Dyer) April 16, 2022
“I’ve been saying for weeks to take notice of Jack Dixon but for some reason you have to play well against the Scarlets to get noticed. Harrison Keddie the same.”
It was the Dragons’ first win since October when they beat Connacht and they will now try and finish their United Rugby Championship campaign with a surge with remaining matches against the Scarlets (at home) followed by Zebre, Ospreys, Cardiff and the Lions.
The Dragons trailed 27-21 with 10 minutes remaining before scoring 17 unanswered points and Ryan added: “This time we got a few moments that took the game away from the Scarlets.
“We talked last week about being bolder when we are ahead because we handed a lot of possession back to Gloucester and then couldn’t stop them.
“Sometimes you can’t stop what the other side has got but this time we could. “We solved their drive when they tried to come after us and they didn’t really have an answer.
This moment for the @dragonsrugby and its supporters!#SCAvDRA#urc #dragons #Rugby pic.twitter.com/FftZAnhGxY
— Brandon Smith (@bisbrandon11) April 16, 2022
“Sometimes you can’t stop what the other side has got but this time we could. We solved their drive when they tried to come after us and they didn’t really have an answer, they were waiting for a spilled ball.
“We solved a lot of things that we haven’t been able to solve in previous weeks; if we could have done that against the Sharks then it would have changed the game but we couldn’t.”
The defeat has dented the Scarlets’ hopes of finishing in the top eight and qualifying for the URC quarter-finals.
They remain in ninth place with three games remaining, starting with the return fixture against Dragons at Rodney Parade next Saturday.