The Dragons picked up their first win at Rodney Parade for over a year following a 20-5 victory over a lacklustre Ospreys.
Tries from Bradley Roberts and Rio Dyer were accompanied by 10 points off the boot of fullback Cai Evans, who was named player of the match in his first game against his former side.
So, how did the Dragons pick up their first league win of the season and how worried should Ospreys supporters be?
Well crafted tries
Whilst the Dragons had a serious case of try line fever throughout the second half, head coach Dai Flanagan will be pleased on how the tries were scored.
The opener comes from a lineout in which they set up a maul and six Ospreys forwards commit to the maul defence, scrum half Rhodri Williams runs a terrific decoy line to prevent Ospreys 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams to move over to defend the openside.
It leaves Dewi Lake on his own, the Dragons dummy the maul with flanker Ollie Griffiths peeling from the maul to fix the Ospreys hooker before passing to Roberts who makes the line break.
Some suspect last ditch tackling from Luke Morgan saw Roberts break the tackle and despite Morgan-Williams taking out his opposite man Williams who’s running a brilliant support line, the Dragons hooker did enough to finish.
The second try comes from a move off the training ground as Flanagan’s side made use of the 2-man advantage.
Fly-half Will Reed loops around Aneurin Owen before passing to Ewan Rosser, who has come off his wing to create an overlap.
Rosser waits to pass until North has committed towards him, which makes fullback Evans’ job a little easier as he fixes Max Nagy to put Dyer over in the corner.
Exploiting Ospreys’ kicking game
Over the last couple of weeks, Toby Booth’s side have kicked a lot off the boot of Morgan-Williams.
The theme continued at Rodney Parade, yet the Dragons dealt with it a lot better than the Sharks did a couple of weeks ago. But they were caught out in the opening minutes with winger Mat Protheroe dotting down in the corner.
Morgan-Williams heads to the blindside following a carry from Owen Watkin, the Ospreys scrum-half chips ahead after notching the lack of cover in the Dragons back field – which allows Protheroe plenty of time to dot down.
The point of the Ospreys kicking game is to ensure a good chase behind a kick and to make a tackle or force an error.
Yet the hosts managed to avoid this, some examples where the kick travelled too far, other examples were the chase not being effective enough and allowing the home side to attack.
Ironically, an example of when the kicking tactic work was followed by Protheroe tackling Will Reed dangerously and getting himself sent off.
When the Ospreys decided not to use the box kick, the kicking was slightly loose, which saw opportunities for the home team to counter attack.
Is it time for change at the Ospreys?
Following the defeat, some Ospreys supporters took to social media calling for change in the coaching department.
Whilst results haven’t gone as planned for Toby Booth, all four professional clubs in Wales are fighting with a hand behind their back due to recent budget cuts imposed by the WRU.
We have seen clear examples of what the Ospreys can do under the Englishman, look no further than last season’s Champions Cup where many didn’t give the Welsh side a chance of qualifying from the group stages – but they found a way.
Sacking Booth would be disastrous, as who would be a realistic candidate to come in and do a better job with the lack of budget the Ospreys have?
Booth has a brilliant chance to prove his doubters wrong in their next URC fixture as the Scarlets head to Swansea.
Meanwhile the Dragons can take some confidence to their mini tour of South Africa, with their next game up against the Sharks.
Openside Blog 