Dragons do double over Stade Francais

The 30-19 victory at Rodney Parade followed a bonus point triumph in the French capital in the opening round and continued the Welsh club’s recent upturn in form.
 
The Welsh side struck first with Prydie slotting a simple penalty. The impressive Dragons scrum began strongly, giving outside-half Dorian Jones a platform which he took full advantage of and, after an inch perfect kick into the corner, hooker Elliot Dee scored the game’s first try from close range.  
 
Following his two tries and one assist last week, Hallam Amos continued his good form and was unlucky not to score with only a late Digby Ioane tackle stopping him. Young Wales Squad centre Tyler Morgan was also impressive and the 19-year-old evaded the Stade centres with ease and galloped 30 metres before being brought down.
 
Stade responded through former New Zealand rugby league World Cup winning centre Kristnan Inu, who broke through a resilient Dragons defensive line which had held firm for more than 10 phases.
 
An inability to stand up to the mighty Dragons scrum led to Stade’s undoing in the first-half and another Prydie penalty made it 22-7 to the Welsh side at half-time.
 
Stade started brightly in the second-half, with Paul Williams and Geoffrey Doumayrou making neat runs, before Zurab Zhivania crossed after heavy pressure on the Dragons’ five metre-line. Steyn was unable to add the conversion, but the gap was cut to 10 points.
 
The home side always looked comfortable and replied through replacement front row man Rhys Thomas, who peeled of the back of a maul to extend the Dragons lead to 27-12.
 
Stade’s forwards briefly came back, with replacement Remi Bonfils scoring and Steyn adding the conversion to make it 27-19, but full-back Geraint Rhys Jones banged over a penalty to make the final scoreline of 30-19 far more comfortable for the Dragons.