In-form Glasgow Warriors ran out 28-42 (14-28) winners against Dragons RFC to continue their excellent form at Rodney Parade on Saturday afternoon.
Warriors had not lost for nine games and went a long way to recording a tenth as they secured a try-scoring bonus point before halftime. Scores from Cole Forbes, Duncan Weir, and a brace from Fraser Brown put the Scottish side in the driving seat at the interval.
After the break, Glasgow managed the game well, extending their lead through captain Stafford McDowall and Sebastian Cancelliere, as well as enduring a Dragons onslaught to see out the victory.
Glasgow’s forward power and accuracy gave them the edge in the first half, with Lewis Bean, Sione Vailanu and JP Du Preez the standouts in contact. Dragons’ defence was valiant but, at times, had no answer to the excellent handling and running lines of McDowall, Sam Johnson, and Josh McKay.
Glasgow flew out of the blocks early on and scored thanks to some lovely work initially by McDowall who fed Johnson to break through the Dragons blitz defence. The Scottish international kept his composure to hand Forbes an easy finish after just three minutes.
The away side saw their lead doubled after another five minutes as a succession of three needless Dragons penalties gave the Warriors a 5m lineout that Brown converted into a try thanks to a well-executed maul.
Dragons needed to show some character after that and, to their credit, they did. Captain Rhodri Williams sniped to catch the Glasgow defence unawares and halve the deficit. The scores were levelled before the 20 minute mark as the industrious Sio Tomkinson intercepted McDowall’s try to score under the posts for his team’s second try of the day.
However, Glasgow rallied and their forward power made the difference as Brown flopped over for another driving maul try, before flyhalf Duncan Weir crossed with the clock in the red to give the away side a halftime cushion.
Glasgow kept the pressure on and were denied a second-half try through Lewis Bean but crossed again shortly after – this time legally – through McDowall, who showed great power to break through Jack Dixon and Tomkinson.
Once again, when faced with a potential hiding, Dragons showed heart. Taine Basham – overlooked by Warren Gatland for his Six Nations squad – crashed over to reduce the deficit before Chris Coleman salvaged a bonus point in the clock in the red.
It was not to be for the home side, though, as Sebastian Cancelliere scored an interception try to put the result beyond doubt and take his team up to fifth in the URC table.