Dragons 19-38 Scarlets: Sweet revenge for Dwayne Peel's side in bonus point triumph

The Scarlets gained sweet revenge over the Dragons with a bonus point victory at Rodney Parade to remain in pole position for Champions Cup qualification and keep alive their URC play-off hopes.

Dwayne Peel’s side had gone down to a surprise 38-27 home defeat to the Men of Gwent last weekend, but responded with a six-try triumph in an entertaining encounter that swung back and fore.

They built a 17-0 lead, only for the Dragons to go in front with 19 unanswered points of their own either side of the interval, but three tries in the final 15 minutes took the visitors clear.

Ultimately, it was their mighty driving maul that proved the difference, as it provided three of their touchdowns, with full-back Angus O’Brien also crossing twice against his former region.

The Dragons will look back and rue the opportunities they spurned in a first half where they had much more of the ball only to trail 17-7 at the break.

For the Scarlets, it’s a result that strengthens their status as the leading Welsh side in the United Rugby Championship table, keeping them on course for European qualification with two games left to play. It also means they are still in the hunt for the top-eight finish that would mean a spot in the end-of-season league play-offs.

In terms of how the game unfolded, well the first half was a strange old affair. The Dragons had 70 per cent possession and 80 per cent territory, plus a one-man advantage for ten minutes following the sin-binning of winger Steff Evans.

But it was the visitors who delivered the points, claiming tries through Man of the Match Sam Lousi, full-back O’Brien and hooker Ryan Elias to go 17-0 up.

Tongan lock Lousi opened the scoring with a magician-like one-handed finish from close range