Ross Moriarty gave Wales a Six Nations fitness boost but he couldn’t prevent the lowly Dragons from being held to a disappointing home draw by Benetton.
The Dragons were lucky to get two points out of this game after Wales hooker Elliot Dee was sent off at the death for a reckless and dangerous ruck clear-out.
Benetton outside-half Tomas Albornoz lined up a penalty at the death from 35 metres out, but luckily for the Dragons, it fell short. Dean Ryan’s side have now lost nine of their last 11 competitive fixtures, and the pressure must be mounting on the former England No 8.
The main positive was the performance of abrasive No 8 Moriarty, who has been out of action since picking up an injury against New Zealand in the autumn and impressed at Rodney Parade playing 68 minutes to give Wayne Pivac a timely nudge ahead of Saturday’s Six Nations opener against Ireland in Dublin.
The home side struggled all evening with Benetton’s physicality, and the visitors opened the scoring through the boot of Albornoz.
The hosts fell further behind when Corniel Els touched down courtesy of a well-worked driving lineout. Sam Davies clawed back three points at the stroke of half-time after an initial break from Gonzalo Bertranou.
Moriarty showed his worth to Pivac after the break as he powered his way over from short-range after taking a free-kick quickly.
Davies added the extras, but the Dragons made a mess of the restart which allowed Albornoz to level the scores from the kicking tee.
The Dragons pack were much improved in the second half as they began to grind their way back into the game, and Davies made it 13-13 going into the final 15 minutes with another successful penalty on his 150th league appearance.
The Dragons had plenty of opportunities to win this game but butchered numerous gilt-edged try-scoring opportunities. Benetton fought hard to get back into the game and were handed a golden opportunity to inflict more pain on the Welsh side but let the Dragons off the hook.
SCORERS
Dragons: Tries – R Moriarty, Conversions – S Davies, Penalties – S Davies (2).
Benetton: Tries – C Els, Conversions – D Albornoz, Penalties – D Albornoz (2).
