Cardiff Achieves 19th Consecutive League Derby Victory Over Dragons

In a United Rugby Championship match, Cardiff defeated Dragons 31-23. Cardiff’s points were accumulated from tries by Mann, Millard, Sheedy, and Lee-Lo, four conversions by Sheedy, and one penalty by Sheedy, with a halftime score of 17. Dragons scored 23 points through tries from Lloyd and Seiuli, two conversions by O’Brien, and three penalties by O’Brien, holding 9 points at the break. Cardiff extended their notable dominance in this fixture by securing their 19th successive league win against their local rivals, Dragons. The United Rugby Championship Welsh derby was largely characterized by disjointed play, numerous errors, and frequent penalties. However, when Cardiff effectively linked their passes, they proved to be superior to Dragons, earning a bonus point that allowed them to climb the league standings. Filo Tiatia, in his inaugural game as coach for the visiting team, now comprehends the magnitude of the task ahead. He became the fifth Dragons coach to face defeat in this ongoing losing streak against Cardiff, which dates back a decade to 26 December, 2014. Any aspirations Dragons held for a positive shift under their new coach were short-lived, lasting only 30 minutes, as they failed to capitalize on their opportunities. Instead, Cardiff dramatically shifted the momentum of the game by scoring four tries within the 20 minutes surrounding halftime. Alex Mann, mere minutes after entering the field, and Callum Sheedy each scored their first club tries, occurring on either side of Harri Millard’s fourth try of the season. Rey Lee-Lo then completed a skillfully executed penalty move, marking the 30th try of his Cardiff career. Dragons mounted a late resurgence through their replacements Morgan Lloyd and Aki Seiuli, but their efforts were insufficient and came too late to salvage a positive outcome from the match. Both coaches would likely have been perplexed by how Cardiff managed to establish an eight-point lead at halftime. Dragons controlled the game for all but 10 minutes, with center Aneurin Owen posing a threat, and they reduced the hosts to 14 men as penalties accumulated. Nonetheless, captain Angus O’Brien missed two straightforward early penalties that could have given them a 15-3 advantage, while Cardiff demonstrated their finishing prowess with two tries before the interval. Mann received Dafydd Hughes’ pass from a line-out drive, before Millard collected Ben Thomas’ pass off his ankles and evaded three defenders to score. The sole consolation for Dragons was that this performance represented a degree of improvement compared to their last visit to this venue in 2023, when they conceded a record-equaling seven tries in a first-half festive capitulation. Josh Adams made his first appearance in six months following a hernia operation and exhibited rustiness, fumbling his initial touch and mishitting a kick on his second. However, it was his powerful run through midfield and Cam Winnett’s astute pass that created the opportunity for Sheedy’s third try, preceding Lee-Lo’s score from a penalty five metres out. Dragons’ replacement scrum-half Morgan Lloyd displayed considerable energy and initiative, scoring a try and initiating the break that led to a second. Yet, the disparity in confidence between these two sides was more pronounced than the difference in the score, as Cardiff secured consecutive league wins at the Arms Park for the first time in over two years. Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt stated: “It was a job done. After a month off, a lot of boys away with Wales and Dragons coming here full of motivation with a new coach, it was a banana skin that we were pretty worried about, so we’ll take the win.” He added, “The boys showed a lot of effort but perhaps not that much quality, but we’ll take the five points and move on.” Dragons interim head coach Filo Tiatia commented: “We’re disappointed. We created a lot of pressure in the first half but we didn’t capitalise on our opportunities.” He continued, “I was pleased with a lot of the decision-making but we need to learn how to make sure you score points when you have your foot on their throat. “I enjoyed the character shown late on and the young guys coming off the bench gave us an edge but we were chasing the game.” The Cardiff lineup included: Winnett; Adams, Lee-Lo, Thomas (captain), Millard; Sheedy, A Davies; Byrne, Hughes, Assiratti, McNally, Williams, Donnell, Young, Lawrence. Replacements were: Lloyd, Domachowski, Litterick, S Davies, Mann, Bevan, Jennings, Hamer-Webb. McNally received a sin bin at 34 minutes. The Dragons lineup featured: O’Brien (captain); Dyer, Westwood, Owen, J Rosser; Evans, Williams; Martinez, Coghlan, Coleman, Screech, Nott, Lewis-Hughes, Basham, Wainwright. Replacements were: Benjamin, Seiuli, Arhip, Davies, Woodman, Lloyd, Wilson, Anderson. Coghlan was sin-binned at 40 minutes. The match officials were: Referee Ben Whitehouse (WRU), Assistant Referees Craig Evans & Mike English (WRU), and TMO Aled Griffiths (WRU).