| Honours Even At Rodney Parade |
Newport Gwent Dragons |
10 - 10 |
Edinburgh |
| Rodney Parade Att: 4,734 |
| Friday 29th February 2008, 19:10 |
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| In difficult conditons at Rodney Parade on Friday, Newport Gwent Dragons and Edinburgh fought out a nail-biting draw - a result which sent Andy Robinson's Scottish side up to third in the league table. |
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| Dragons number 8 Michael Owen is caught in a double tackle by Edinburgh's Andrew Kelly and Augusto Allori |
| © Huw Evans Agency |
The result saw Edinburgh climb above Munster in the standings but there were some disappointing aspects to the Scots’ performance, not least their failure to put some decent first half chances away and the blow of losing Nick De Luca to a foot injury.
The inside centre had been released by Scotland coach Frank Hadden for the game but had to come off after 35 minutes’ play at a wet and windy Firhill.
While centre Ben Cairns’ early try was the visitors’ big score of the night, their disciplined defence during the second half was a real backs-to-the-wall effort, with replacements Craig Hamilton and Greig Laidlaw both putting in some excellent tackling late on.
Hamilton also managed to block a late drop goal attempt and a last-gasp hit by Laidlaw hauled Dragons flanker Joe Bearman down just short of the line when it looked like he might conjure up the match-winning try.
The Dragons, who had Kevin Morgan back to captain them from full-back, made six changes in all to the side that disappointed against Ulster a Ravenhill a fortnight ago.
But they suffered a setback in the eighth-minute when Cairns, fresh from his exploits with Scotland’A’ and captaining Edinburgh for the first time, went on an angled run, beat the Dragons midfield and had the pace to swerve past Morgan for a fantastic solo try - one of the scores of the season surely.
Phil Godman added the conversion, curling it into the breeze, and then flung over a 14th-minute penalty as Andy Robinson’s men moved 10-0 ahead.
At the other end though, Ceri Sweeney missed a kickable change for the Dragons who took their time to settle. They got themselves right back in the match in the 32nd-minute when their forwards carved their way up through the middle and a grubber kick through from Ashley Smith set up winger Richard Fussell for a well-worked try.
Aled Thomas, on as a replacement for leg injury victim Sweeney, kicked the conversion to make it 10-7 at the break. Edinburgh missed a late chance to extend that buffer when Godman was wayward from 28 metres out.
The visitors turned into the elements for the second half and came up a good turnover early on after the Dragons had kicked to touch instead of going for goal.
The Welsh region got a second penalty some moments later and Thomas was told to nail the place-kick which he duly did for a 10-10 score-line.
Edinburgh boss Andy Robinson made three quick changes - bringing in Simon Cross, John Houston and Steve Lawrie - as he tried to get his side on the front foot for a while.
With the wind at their backs, the Dragons were gaining good territory and Edinburgh’s chances of either holding on or moving ahead again were not helped when replacement hooker Lawrie had to come on for flanker Alan MacDonald.
Some bad decision-making and dropped passes kept Edinburgh confined to their own half and they had a good share of possession in the final quarter and churned it down in the pack with the clock ticking towards 80 minutes.
Injury-time came and Thomas’ drop goal shot was repelled by Hamilton.
Soon after, Bearman was stopped short of the line and referee Alan Lewis blew for full-time just moments later as Edinburgh chalked up their third draw of the campaign.
The stalemate also ended the Dragons’ three-match losing run in all competitions but there was no repeat of their 19-13 Murrayfield victory over Edinburgh from last October. |
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| First half timeline |
| 8 | Edinburgh | Try - B Cairns |
| 8 | Edinburgh | Conversion - P Godman |
| 14 | Edinburgh | Penalty kick - P Godman |
| 25 | Newport Gwent Dragons | Substitution - A Thomas on for C Sweeney |
| 32 | Newport Gwent Dragons | Try - R Fussell |
| 32 | Newport Gwent Dragons | Conversion - A Thomas |
| 34 | Edinburgh | Substitution - M Dey on for N de Luca |
| Second half timeline |
| 41 | Newport Gwent Dragons | Substitution - P Emerick on for M Thomas |
| 53 | Newport Gwent Dragons | Substitution - G Robinson on for L Harrison |
| 53 | Edinburgh | Substitution - G Kerr on for A Allori |
| 53 | Edinburgh | Substitution - C Hamilton on for M Mustchin |
| 53 | Newport Gwent Dragons | Substitution - A Jones on for A Hall |
| 57 | Newport Gwent Dragons | Penalty kick - A Thomas |
| 62 | Edinburgh | Substitution - S Cross on for D Callam |
| 63 | Edinburgh | Substitution - J Houston on for A Turnbull |
| 68 | Edinburgh | Substitution - S Lawrie on for A MacDonald |
| 70 | Newport Gwent Dragons | Substitution - J Ringer on for M Owen |
| 70 | Newport Gwent Dragons | Substitution - W Evans on for A Williams |
| 70 | Newport Gwent Dragons | Substitution - L Harrison on for H Gustafson |
| 76 | Edinburgh | Substitution - G Laidlaw on for B Meyer |
| 80 | Newport Gwent Dragons | Substitution - K Crawford on for S Jones |
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