A final quarter Scarlets fightback wasn’t enough to deny Dragons a 33-28 victory in an error-strewn pre-season clash at Rodney Parade.
The home side surged into a 33-14 lead early in the second half, but tries from Dane Blacker and Ioan Nicholas almost saw the Scarlets snatch it at the death.
The Scarlets were a long way off their best, but pre-season is the place to shake off the rust as Dwayne Peel’s side continue their preparations for the BKT United Rugby Championship opener against Munster on September 27.
Taine Plumtree and Ellis Mee crossed for first-half tries as Scarlets trailed 26-14 at the break, then a resurgence in the final 20 minutes almost turned the game on its head.
Scarlets made a late change to their starting line-up with Nicholas replacing Blair Murray, who had suffered a back spasm in the warm-up.
The visitors started brightly. A lovely miss pass from Joe Hawkins found Jarrod Taylor in the wide channel. The back-rower made good ground, Nicholas then weaved his way around a couple of defenders before the ball was spread to Plumtree on the opposite flank. Sam Costelow converted.
Dragons responded strongly.
Angus O’Brien touched down from close range then Joe Westwood added another – the first of a first-half hat-trick for the young centre.
Jake Ball, on his return to Scarlets colours, left the field with a cut after a clash of heads on 23 minutes, replaced by Jac Price.
Scarlets hit back with an opportunist second. It was scored by the lively Ellis Mee off a Gareth Davies kick over the top which bounced away from the clutches of O’Brien and into Mee’s arms, the winger showing impressive pace to make the corner. Costelow again added the conversion.
But a series of unforced errors marred the remainder of the half.
Westwood hit a sharp line for his second, then made the most of Scarlets failing to deal with a hack downfield to claim his third. De Beer’s conversion made it 26-14 at the break.
As expected, both sides made a number of changes at the interval and with the bulk of possession and territory and feeding off Scarlets ill-discipline, it was the Dragons who extended their lead 13 minutes into the second half when flanker Harry Beddall touched down on the back of a driving maul.
Trailing 33-14 Scarlets started on the comeback trail with a breakaway score for Dane Blacker.
Taylor burst away before freeing his scrum-half for a free run to the line against the team he left in the summer. Joe Hawkins converted.
Then back came the Scarlets with another.
Ioan Jones did well to get his foot to a kick through from fellow replacement Archie Hughes and it was Nicholas who showed great composure to gather and dive over for the try. Costelow’s conversion made the deficit just five points with eight minutes remaining.
In the final minutes Hughes was hauled down by a brilliant try-saving cover tackle by Aaron Wainwright and Scarlets also had an attacking line-out only for the Dragons pack to halt it and secure the spoils.
Dragons – tries: A. O’Brien, J. Westwood (3), H. Beddall. Cons: T. de Beer (4)
Scarlets – tries: T. Plumtree, E. Mee, D. Blacker, I. Nicholas. Cons: S. Costelow (3), J. Hawkins.
Scarlets: Ioan Nicholas; Jac Davies (repl Tomi Lewis HT), Macs Page (repl Gabe McDonald 65), Joe Hawkins (repl Sam Costelow 67), Ellis Mee (repl Ioan Jones 65); Sam Costelow (repl Joe Roberts HT), Gareth Davies (repl Dabe Blacker 30; repl Archie Hughes 60); Alec Hepburn (repl Kemsley Mathias 40), Harry Thomas (repl Isaac Young 37), Harri O’Connor (repl Gabe Hawley 53), Sam Lousi (repl Taine Plumtree 52), Jake Ball (repl Jac Price 23), Taine Plumtree (repl Osian Williams HT), Dan Davis (repl Josh Macleod HT), Jarrod Taylor (repl Trystan Davies 65).