DRAGONS 15 – 15 BENETTON RUGBY
The Dragons were able to extend their unbeaten run at Rodney Parade to five games thanks to a last gasp try from Tongan international Fine Inisi that clinched a draw.
With time running out for the home side, Inisi dived over in the corner to notch his first try for the region. That left skipper Angus O’Brien with a tough touchline conversion to win the game, but it was not to be.
Displaying great character, the Dragons dug deep to battle through difficult periods with lock Levi Douglas being dismissed for a 20-minute red card and then Inisi also pocking up a yellow to reduce the home numbers to 13 for a short spell.
They saw Welsh international back row man Shane Lewis-Hughes depart after only five minutes, bringing Wales U20 star Evan Minto into action, and then lost scrum half Che Hope to injury after only 10 minutes.
Benetton drew first blood with the first of two tries from wing Onisi Ratave was there to score his first try of the evening, but Douglas powered over for his first Dragons try three minutes later. O’Brien nailed the conversion and that gave the home side the lead.
Former All Blacks centre Malakai Fekitoa picked up a yellow card for a high challenge on David Richards but it didn’t stop the Italians from hitting the front again with Ratave’s second score on the half-hour mark.
Douglas then saw yellow, which was later upgraded to a 20-minute red card on review and while he was off Matt Gallagher scored a third try to extend the Benetton lead to 15-7 some 10 minutes into the second half.
A Harry Beddall turn over allowed O’Brien to cut the gap to one score with 10 minutes left to play. The Dragons went in for the kill and somehow managed to work Inisi over for a try that gave the 7,000+ crowd something to really shout about.
Scorers: Dragons: Tries: Douglas (12), Inisi (80); Con: O’Brien (13; Pen: O’Brien (69). Benetton: Tries: Ratave 2 (1, 29), Gallagher (50)
Dragons RFC: Angus O’Brien, David Richards (Fetuli Paea 53), Fine Inisi, Aneurin Owen, Rio Dyer, Tinus de Beer (Cai Evans 40), Che Hope (Rhodri Williams 10); Rodrigo Martinez (Jordan Morris 62), Brodie Coghlan (Oli Burrows 56), Chris Coleman (Owain James 51), Levi Douglas (Barny Langton-Cryer 53), Seb Davies, Ryan Woodman, Harry Beddall, Shane Lewis-Hughes (Evan Minto 5)
YC: Inisi (39)Benetton Rugby: Matt Gallagher (Ignacio Mendy 63); Onisi Ratave, Paolo Odogwu, Malakai Fekitoa (Filippo Drago 62), Rhyno Smith, Jacob Umaga, Andy Uren; Thomas Gallo (Destiny Aminu), Bautista Bernasconi (Nicholas Gasperini 61), Giosué Zilocchi (Tiziano Pasquali 78-80), Giulio Marini (Scott Scrafton 39), Eli Snyman, Alessandro Izekor, Jadin Kingi (Nelson Casartelli 69), Riccardo Favretto
RC (20 min): Douglas (33); YC: Fekitoa (15)
Rep Unused: CristianoReferee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)