Gunners slay the Dragons

Edinburgh 30 Newport-Gwent 20

The Gunners ended their recent decline with a battling win over in-form Newport at Murrayfield.

Lynn Howells’ men were desperate to avoid a fourth straight defeat and they showed plenty of grit to come from behind and clinch a bonus point win.

But Edinburgh were caught cold as the fired-up Dragons, fresh from last week’s Euro Challenge Cup success, stormed ahead.

An unforced error by Rob Dewey gave the Welshmen a lineout on 22 metres and, when the home forwards were penalised, Ceri Sweeney slotted the kick.

The Newport stand-off doubled the lead two minutes later after another gift from the Gunners.

However, Edinburgh finally hauled themselves into contention when Chris Paterson marked his return from injury with a precise kick.

The Scotland star should have levelled the scores with an easier kick soon after but this time his effort rebounded from a post.

Paterson was heavily involved as the Gunners notched the first try of the match midway through the first half.

He waltzed through the visiting defence after being released by Matt Dey, only to be held up on the line by some desperate Dragons defending.

However, the ball was fed to Chris Bentley who plunged over for his first try for the Murrayfield men and Paterson converted.

The Gunners looked to be in complete command when Andrew Kelly was sent through by Paterson who then converted the substitute hooker’s touchdown.

But the Dragons grabbed a lifeline when Aled Brew sprinted clear to score in the corner and Sweeney landed a superb conversion to reduce the deficit to just four points.

Welsh hopes of a comeback were snuffed out as the Gunners notched a deadly try double on the restart.

First David Callam fastened onto Grieg Laidlaw’s crafty grubber kick and then Ally Hogg ripped through three despairing Dragons tackle to clinch Edinburgh’s bonus point.

Paterson missed both conversions and it was left to Duncan Hodge to assume the kicking duties to open up a 17-point cushion with a penalty on the hour.

Newport refused to throw in the towel and they reduced the arrears when Sweeney rounded off a sparkling move and converted his own try from the touchline.

However, the Gunners held out for a deserved win.