Heineken Cup

The Newport Gwent Dragons bounced back from their narrow first-round defeat to Gloucester last week, by beating Glasgow Warriors 22-14 in a Heineken Cup Round Two encounter on their home turf, Rodney Parade, on Friday.

With Biarritz and Gloucester meeting in France on Saturday, the win allowed the Dragons to go top of the Pool Two - with the winless Warriors rooted in last place with a solitary bonus point from their loss to Biarritz last week.

It was a 15-point blitz in three minutes before the half-time break that sealed the win for the Dragons - who went from 7-all to 22-7 at the break. Despite a strong fightback by the Warriors in the second half - when they managed to keep the home team scoreless - the Dragons held on for a crucial home win.

The Dragons had the first scoring opportunity, but flyhalf James Arlidge was unable to slot the fifth-minute penalty - hooking his kick left of the posts.

Two minutes later foul play in the front row handed Glasgow a penalty, but Dan Parks also didn't connect cleanly - as his attempt also drifted wide.

The first score came in the 12th minute, when lock Adam Jones scored a try from a catch-and-drive line-out. Arlidge converted for a 7-0 lead.

It was another 12 minutes before the next score, a try to Glasgow's Johnnie Beattie. The Warriors had spent a long period in the Dragons' 22. Gregor released Parks, who in turn sent a miss pass to Beattie, who crashes through a gap in the home defence. Parks levelled the scores at 7-7 with the conversion.

Then, just as Glasgow began to come back into the game, Johnnie Beattie was sent to the sin bin for clearing the ruck area  using his feet.

And minutes later Arlidge put the Dragons back in the lead, 10-7, with a drop-goal.

Parks failed with a chance to level the scores soon after, when Bernardo Stortoni received a boot in the side from Aled Brew whilst contesting a high ball.

The Dragons stretched their lead to 15-7 two minutes before the break with a try by Luke Charteris. The Dragons attacked down the right flank and the lock, Charteris, somehow manages to ground the ball despite being held up over the line.

And right on the half-time whistle the home team went further ahead, 22-7, when Martyn Thomas scored the third try. A Glasgow attack ended in disarray and from the turnover the Dragons exploited the disorganised Warriors defence. Fullback Martyn Thomas skipped downfield to touch down virtually unopposed. Arlidge converted to give his team a 15-point lead at the break.

Five minutes into the second half saw Dragons blindside flank Dan Lydiate given 10 minutes in the sin bin for a late and dangerous tackle on Thom Evans.

It took Glasgow a full 10 minutes to exploit their numerical advantage, as Kevin Tkachuk went over for a try. The Warriors won a scrum on their own feed inside the Dragons 22. Colin Gregor found Parks and the flyhalf released Tkachuk, who crashed through five defenders from five metres out. Parks added the conversion to narrow the gap to 14-22,  but that was to be the last score in the match.

Despite a rash of replacements on both sides, neither side managed to score again.

The scorers:

For the Dragons:
Tries: Jones, Charteris, M Thomas
Cons: Arlidge 2
DG: Arlidge

For the Warriors:
Tries: Beattie, Tkachuk
Cons: Parks 2

Yellow cards: John Beattie (Warriors, 28), Dan Lydiate (Dragons, 45)

Teams:

Dragons: 15 Martyn Thomas, 14 Aled Brew, 13 Tom Riley, 12 Ashley Smith, 11 Will Harries, 10 James Arlidge, 9 Wayne Evans, 8 Lewis Evans 7 Gavin Thomas, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Luke Charteris (captain) 4 Adam Jones, 3 Peter Bracken 2 Steve Jones 1 Phil Price
Replacements: 16 Duane Goodfield, 17 Hugh Gustafson, 18 Gethin Robinson, 19 Hoani MacDonald, 20 Robert Sidoli, 21 Danny Lee, 22 Richard Fussell, 23 Jason Tovey

Warriors: 15 Bernardo Stortoni, 14 Colin Shaw, 13 David McCall, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Thom Evans, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 John Beattie, 7 TBC, 6 Richie Vernon 5 Alastair Kellock (captain), 4 Tim Barker, 3 Moray Low, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 John Welsh
Replacements: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Kevin Tkachuk, 18 Ed Kalman, 19 Dan Turner, 20 Colin Gregor, 21 Hefin O'Hare, 22 Peter Horne, 23 Kelly Brown

Referees: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: Cédric Marchat (France), Stéphane Boyer (France)