The win was no more than the Dragons deserved having led throughout and were rarely threatened by a Borders side struggling with injury and now low on confidence after four defeats. This was Grand Slam hero Morgan’s first game back after nine months out with a persistent foot injury and the full back reclaimed the Captaincy from former Wales skipper Colin Charvis, who led the pack.
On a bleak night at Netherdale, Borders’ fly half Steve Jones kicked off into steady rain which gave the ball the consistency of a bar of soap as handling errors littered the opening exchanges with both sides suffering.
Borders’ full back Calum MacRae missed an early penalty, and it was Dragons who drew first blood when prop Adam Black charged over from close range having lingered out in the backs. Dragons fly half Ceri Sweeney converted the try to put the guests 7-0 up.
Borders replied immediately with a spell in the Dragons half and they finally got the break through when Jones launched a towering cross kick into the murky night.
Dragons Morgan and left wing Richard Fussell made a hash of dealing with the problem and the bouncing ball fell into the grateful arms of Borders’ Nick De Luca who crossed for the unconverted try. McRae was well wide with the conversion, but the Borders were back in the game at 7-5 before Sweeney replied almost immediately with a 40-yard penalty to make it 10-5 to the Dragons with half time approaching.
Having seen it work once, Jones again tried the same long cross kick trick, but Morgan made no mistake second time around and made very sure of his mark. A penalty for offside and McRae slotted the kick from close range making the half time score 10-8 to the Welsh region.
Jones threatened the Dragons defence with a superb break in the guests half, but lock Opeta Palepoi failed to take his pass. The Welsh region camped on the Borders line and they were rewarded when Morgan dived over for a try just past the hour mark, Sweeney landed the conversion which brought him up to 50 points for the season.
With McRae off after taking a blow to the head, Jones took over the kicking duties and was woefully wide with his effort in contrast Sweeney nailed his effort to put the Dragons clear at 20-8 and sealed the win.
