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October 11, 2008

Newport Gwent Dragons 32 - 22 Glasgow Warriors

Heineken Cup match played at Rodney Parade on Saturday October 11th 2008 | 8 comments

Max made it onto the scoresheet in Rodney Parade
Glasgow were unable to salvage a bonus point from their first Heineken match, as the Newport Gwent Dragons sought revenge for the opening game of the season.

The Dragons got their Heineken Cup campaign off to a flying start to beat the battling Glasgow Warriors.

The boot of home fly-half James Arlidge proved the difference as both teams ran in three tries - the Dragons through Gareth Wyatt (two) and Colin Charvis, while Lome Fa'atau, Max Evans and Alastair Kellock crossed for the visitors.

From the start, it looked like the Scotsmen were in for a tough afternoon as the Welsh region piled on the pressure, full-back Phil Dollman losing the ball as he stretched to touchdown under the posts in the opening three minutes.

But, as the Dragons pressed towards the line, Glasgow hit them with a sucker-punch.

New Zealand fly-half Arlidge's pass to Australian centre Rory Sidey was intercepted by Warriors' wing Lome Fa'atau for a 95-metre sprint under the posts, making Colin Gregor's conversion simple.

That set the scene for a good first-half contest where play went from end to end and both teams survived moments where they could have conceded tries.

Lome nearly went over again in the left corner when he was put away just a few metres from the line but dropped the ball.

Colin Gregor kicked Glasgow into a 10-0 lead after 19 minutes, however the visitors soon found themselves living off scraps of possession and defending their territory.

A brilliant tackle by hooker Dougie Hall on Dragons prop Adam Black two metres from his line prevented a first home touchdown following a sustained attack involving several forwards.

The only points on the board by the half-hour were two penalties from Arlidge.

But when flanker Kelly Brown found himself sin-binned for an infringement at a ruck, it signalled a turnaround in fortunes for the home side.

They attacked again through former Wales captain Charvis, the Dragons flanker, for Arlidge to feed centre Marc Stcherbina and send wing Wyatt over in the corner.

Arlidge failed with the conversion but added a 30-metre drop-goal on the stroke of half-time to give his side a 14-10 lead.

And, while Kelly was still warming the bench, Arlidge further increased the Dragons lead with a penalty in front of the posts.

The Warriors would not give in, though, and levelled the match at 17-17 when centre Max Evans went in at the corner and Colin landed a brilliant long-range conversion.

The relief was short-lived, however, as Wyatt squeezed in at the corner for his second try and Charvis gave them a 10-point lead with a third try.

Glasgow continued to fight as captain Al Kellock drove over from 10 metres to make it 29-22 and, as the changes came off both benches, the Warriors went up a gear.

They were frustrated, though, as Arlidge booted a second drop-goal to restore the 10-point advantage and handling errors let Glasgow down too many times towards the final whistle.

Referee Romain Pointe (FRU)
Attendance 5,238
Man of the Match TBC
Team
1
Justin Va'a
2
Dougie Hall
3
Moray Low
4
Opeta Palepoi
5
Alastair Kellock
6
Kelly Brown
7
John Barclay
8
John Beattie
9
Mark McMillan
10
Colin Gregor
11
Hefin O'Hare
12
Graeme Morrison
13
Max Evans
14
Lome Fa'atau
15
Bernardo Stortoni
Sub
Kevin Tkachuk
Sub
Ed Kalman
Sub
Tim Barker
Sub
Steve Swindall
Sub
Ruaridh Jackson
Sub
Graeme Morrison
Sub
Richie Vernon
Match Substitutions
Off On
Moray Low Ed Kalman
Off On
Opeta Palepoi Tim Barker
Off On
Justin Va'a Kevin Tkachuk
Off On
Mark McMillan Ruaridh Jackson
Off On
Kelly Brown Steve Swindall
Off On
John Barclay Richie Vernon
Off On
Graeme Morrison Andrew Henderson
Scorers
Lome Fa'atau Try 
Colin Gregor Conversion
Colin Gregor Penalty
Max Evans Try 
Colin Gregor Conversion
Alastair Kellock Try 
Comments
Posted by sunday5 on October 12, 2008 07:53 AM | Reply to this comment

This makes it sound like we went down fighting but the Lineen interview was a little more.... critical of the team. I didn't see the game, how bad were we?

The fact we came away with nothing suggests that we were pretty bad...

Posted by Big Blue on October 12, 2008 08:57 AM | Reply to this comment

We were very poor again. Dragons were not much better.

Posted by gonesouth on October 12, 2008 02:59 PM | Reply to this comment

It was my first game of the season. I don't think anyone warrants a mention for fronting up. I could single out a few players for non performance but the rest of the team were at best average. We did not create anything and lived on scraps from the Dragons. If you do not win the set piece then you are not going to win the match.
Just settling down to watch next weeks opponents - maybe we were saving ourselves for the home matches! It's not going to be pretty if the same team turns out.

Posted by sandy dennison on October 13, 2008 01:49 PM | Reply to this comment

A totally dire performance from Glasgow. Only one team wanted to win the game and that team duly did so. One could only smile and offer congratulations to the Dragons' fans in the Rodney Parade bar afterwards as no one could deny that their very average team deserved their victory. The free kick awarded to the Dragons late in the second half for a delayed throw in to the line out summed up Glasgow's lackadaisical attitude. It is high time that our players learned what being professional sportsmen is all about.

Posted by sandy dennison on October 13, 2008 01:50 PM | Reply to this comment

A totally dire performance from Glasgow. Only one team wanted to win the game and that team duly did so. One could only smile and offer congratulations to the Dragons' fans in the Rodney Parade bar afterwards as no one could deny that their very average team deserved their victory. The free kick awarded to the Dragons late in the second half for a delayed throw in to the line out summed up Glasgow's lackadaisical attitude. It is high time that our players learned what being professional sportsmen is all about.

Posted by sandy dennison on October 13, 2008 01:50 PM | Reply to this comment

A totally dire performance from Glasgow. Only one team wanted to win the game and that team duly did so. One could only smile and offer congratulations to the Dragons' fans in the Rodney Parade bar afterwards as no one could deny that their very average team deserved their victory. The free kick awarded to the Dragons late in the second half for a delayed throw in to the line out summed up Glasgow's lackadaisical attitude. It is high time that our players learned what being professional sportsmen is all about.

Posted by Osama bin Hidin on October 13, 2008 04:41 PM | Reply to this comment

You can say that again... and again.

Posted by Les on October 14, 2008 01:50 PM | Reply to this comment

And it should be. There was a lack of leadership from senior players on the park. We let a mediocre but committed Dragons team back in twice and the nonsense with the throw in was at exactly wrong moment. Having dragged ourselves back in to the game we give them the ball through sheer stupidity and they trundle up and score. The team have shown glimpses of what it could do but they need to cut out the basic errors.

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