The Dragons struck first with a 21st minute penalty from Jason Tovey, but the Scarlets bounced straight back and after going through the phases, some slick handling by the home backs saw centre Sam Soul cross for a try that Tom James improved.
Despite plenty of home pressure, it was the Dragons who scored next – a mistake from a Scarlets scrum near their own line allowing Sam Paylor to cross for Tovey to convert.
The only other score of the half was a penalty for the Scarlets by scrum half James, that handed the home region a 17-10 interval advantage.
The Dragons started the second half in determined fashion and from a lineout move 15 metres out hooker Craig Fillier crossed in the corner. Tovey converted, but with both sides having their chances, it was never likely to be the final score.
The Dragons eventually won it when in the last move of the game Tovey converted a penalty from wide out.
Scarlets’ team manager Steff Thomas said, “The boys were disappointed to go down to the Dragons, but they scored two excellent tries and gave a good account of themselves.
“Credit to the Dragons they were actually never in front in normal time, but they kept going and their power upfront and some excellent goal kicking from Jason Tovey gave them the win in the end. Their pack kept the ball extremely well in the second half and frustrated our efforts.
“The game was a credit to the Championship and we now look forward to the game against the Blues on the 19th November”.
The Blues won the other game, defeated the Ospreys 26-23 at Glamorgan Wanderers.
The hosts raced into a 17-0 lead courtesy of tries from Garyn Lucas and James Loxton with Dean Gunter adding two conversions and a penalty.
However, the Ospreys struck back to make it 17-9 at the interval, with leading points scorer Matthew Jarvis kicking three penalties.
A try from Richard Randall and nine more points from the boot of Jarvis threatened to spoil the Blues’ party, but Dean Gunter won the day and finished the evening with 16 points.
Blues community and coach development manager Richard Hodges said; “The boys played well early on, but did their best to throw it away in a very tight game.
“However, they stuck in there and gained a valuable win against a very good Ospreys’ side.”
