THE margin of defeat might have been just eight rather than 34 but the Dragons’ trip to Cardiff on Saturday was just as deflating as their 2023 Boxing Day humiliation.
Previous head coach Dai Flanagan was shellshocked after the 55-21 Arms Park festive hammering that turned out to be the low point of his entire tenure.
Cardiff ran in seven of their nine tries in the first half on that occasion but crossed for ‘just’ four this time to take the spoils despite being pretty sluggish.
Bursts either side of half-time did the job with flanker Alex Mann, wing Harri Millard, fly-half Callum Sheedy and centre Rey Lee-Lo the men to cross.
The Dragons blew chances and missed kicks in the first half and late scores by lively scrum-half Morgan Lloyd and prop Aki Seiuli gave them the chance to burgle a consolation bonus.
A forward pass with the clock in the red ensured it was, rightly, a pointless trip to Cardiff and a losing start for interim head coach Filo Tiatia.
BLOWN CHANCES
The Dragons paid the price for failure in the ‘red zone’ in the first block of the season and they picked up where they left off.
Captain Angus O’Brien, who didn’t kick at goal in the first block because he was carrying an injury, missed a pair of very kickable penalties (Lloyd Evans has also been off target too frequently).
There were trips to the 22 - and the forwards were winning the battle of the gain line - but no tries.
Aneurin Owen made a superb break but Cardiff defended well to shut off the offload and then Chris Coleman knocked on, then there was one glorious opportunity when Harry Wilson cut a nice line but failed to gather his skipper’s pass.
It should have been at least 15-3 as half-time approached but instead Cardiff were still in striking distance and backed themselves.
Penalties were kicked to the corner for Mann to go over and then, despite being a lock down with Josh McNally in the sin bin, piled the pressure with the set piece as the whistle approached.
Offences totted up, hooker Brodie Coghlan paid the price with yellow and then Millard sidestepped on his left wing and not only beat O’Brien but the cover of Rio Dyer, Harry Wilson and Rhodri Williams, who all overran it.
The 17-9 turned into 31-9 with half an hour to go and thankfully Cardiff returned to their error-strewn ways.
This could have been another serious hammering in the capital and the Blue and Blacks didn’t even have to be near their best to bag a five-point haul.
THE STREAK GOES ON
It’s now 18 defeats on the spin in this derby and if the Dragons aren’t careful it’ll get to the stage when a player takes to the field in this fixture who wasn’t born the last time they beat Cardiff.
That memorable success was on April 4, 2015 in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals, pre-Brexit days when Wales still longed to be part of major football tournaments and Friars Walk was still being built.
Just two players on the roster have beaten Cardiff with the Dragons – hookers Elliot Dee and James Benjamin – while forwards coach Sam Hobbs was on the Blue and Blacks’ bench for that knockout tie.
There is so much pressure on Boxing Day when there will be a packed house in Newport and the streak needs to end for the sake of the long-suffering fans.
Fail and the streak will go on for at least another nine months – those babies born on the day of the last win are nearing secondary school age…
Eighteen games. EIGHTEEN games. Not to Leinster with their big budget, but Cardiff.
LOOKING GRIM
Oh for the autumn internationals, when the only concern was how bad Wales were.
The return of club rugby and back to familiar frustrations for the Dragons, whose poor evening got worse a few hours after the final whistle when the Ospreys were turned over by Zebre.
Not only at the Rodney Parade club in danger of finishing as the worst Welsh side – sadly, the most likely route to the Dragons finishing third is the Welsh Rugby Union cutting a rival – but they are at serious peril of being the worst side in the URC.
You would be a brave person to bet on them totting up more points than the men from Parma, who also have home advantage against Tiatia’s side at the end of February during the Six Nations.
Their big ‘if only’ moment was in round three when the Sharks did to them what they had done to the Ospreys.
Victory against the South Africans and Flanagan would probably still be in a job and the buoyant Dragons would have had a launchpad for the other games in the block.
Instead, the URC is looking tough and the pressure is huge to produce the goods against Montpellier in Friday’s Challenge Cup opener.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of the fixture against the French side, who lost 9-6 at Bordeaux-Begles and are mid-table in the Top 14.
Victory is imperative on home soil against Montpellier and also Pau in January if they are to make the knockout stages because of tough trips.
Newcastle will be fired up by Steve Diamond to build on recent successes over Exeter and Saracens at Kingston Park and flying to face the Lions in between Newport fixtures will be very, very hard.
This is a huge spell for the Dragons – so many players need to show they don’t deserve to be part of a cull – and they got off to a poor start in Cardiff.
MAGIC MORGAN
Taine Basham’s carrying was the biggest positive until the arrival of Lloyd, who grasped his chance after a shaky start.
The 22-year-old from Hollybush brought his Pontypool form to the Dragons with a snipe and a strong finish for his try and then another burst to get on the front foot for Seiuli’s score.
His all-round game was good and the promising prospect deserves another cameo against Montpellier.
I would argue that is the best approach rather than giving him the 9 jersey; let Rhodri Williams (who was also good against Cardiff) use his experience and game-management as the starter and then unleash the energy of Lloyd.
There should also be some praise for Flanagan in his handling of Lloyd and his good friend and fellow scrum-half Che Hope, who has been learning the ropes with Newport.
The previous head coach resisted the temptation to bring them in last season and told them to rack up the games in the Premiership.
Now they are in a position to push Dane Blacker, who is out of contract next summer, to fourth in the depth chart.
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