Dragons hold on to beat Edinburgh

Newport Gwent Dragons 30 Edinburgh 22

Newport Gwent Dragons outgunned Edinburgh in an exciting Magners League game at Rodney Parade today.

Both sides were playing their first games under new coaching set-ups, but the Dragons had fewer players on international duty than Edinburgh.

In an all-action first half, Edinburgh stung their hosts when a smart kick by Tim Visser saw his fellow winger Lee Jones win the race for the touchdown and Chris Paterson added the conversion.

A clever switch of direction by Jason Tovey paved the way for a corner try by Dragons’ prop Phil Price before Paterson kicked Edinburgh into a 10-5 lead with a 22nd minute penalty.

The Dragons roared back to get three tries in the second quarter, starting when Will Harries put Tovey over.

A powerful forward surge brought a try for Lewis Evans, converted by Tovey and a kick by Harries put Ashley Smith over to make it 22-10 at the interval.

Tovey stretched the Dragons’ lead with a penalty after 45 minutes and flanker Andrew Coombs burst away from a maul after a lineout for their fifth try of the match.

Edinburgh hit back with a break by Visser and after several phases close to the home line, it was Visser who fought his way over for a try.

In the dying seconds of the game Geoff Cross forced his way over for the third Edinburgh try which Paterson converted but they still finished one point short of getting a losing bonus point.