THE Dragons took inspiration from Gwent legend Joe Calzaghe after landing a knockout blow ‘in the 12th round’ of their derby against the Ospreys, said boss Dai Flanagan.
The Rodney Parade club stunned their visitors in Newport to win 23-21 thanks to a one-two combination at the death of the United Rugby Championship opener - replacement prop Luke Yendle crashed over and Lloyd Evans added the conversion.
It had looked like the Ospreys would be taking the spoils courtesy of tries by centre Keiran Williams and wing Ryan Conbeer.
READ MORE: Full match report of the Dragons' stunning win
They led 21-13 in the final quarter when the Dragons, who scored a cracker through flanker Harri Keddie in the first half, were reduced to 14 men with the sin-binning of hooker James Benjamin.
However, the hosts held firm in defence, kicked to within striking distance with an Evans penalty and then hammered away at the line for Yendle to be the unlikely hero.
Head coach Flanagan said they used a visit by Newbridge icon Calzaghe, a former two-weight world champion with a perfect record, to their training base as motivation.
“We had Calzaghe in over the summer and we themed this week around trying to take the Ospreys to round 12. We won’t be doing that again, we want to go three or six rounds because it’s not good for the heart,” said head coach Flanagan.
“I am so proud of them, there was calmness out there when we had that moment. A lot of that has happened to us and not for us but there was confidence and clarity.
“We can be much better for sure, but that will be good for us.
“We were ill disciplined for 25 minutes of the second half and rightly so we had a yellow card. It was pleasing that we were much better disciplined down to 14.”
The Dragons won their URC opener for the first time since 2013 and got over the line in a tight battle, which contrasted to the start of last season when edged out by Edinburgh and Cardiff at home.
“That has happened to us a lot of times since I have been here for whatever reason,” said Flanagan. “We haven’t had one of them and it’s nice for the shoe to be on the other foot.
“We will learn from it because we don’t want to be in that position but the growth of the group was the clarity.”
The Dragons also mixed it against a powerful Ospreys side that featured Wales starts Dewi Lake, Jac Morgan, Justin Tipuric and Adam Beard.
“We are a physical bunch, the feedback from Bristol and Bath was that we can hit so it’s about repeating that and staying disciplined.
“We need to be more accurate – there were too many little knock-ons – but when we get it right like that first try we are a good team.”
The Dragons travel to Leinster before having three more home games against the Lions, Sharks and Benetton.
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