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Here are your rugby morning headlines for Sunday, December 21.
Dragons boss insists win had ‘been brewing’
Dragons head coach Filo Tiatia says last night’s impressive 48-28 victory over Connacht had been brewing and reserved special praise for young Welsh star Harry Beddall.
This was the Dragons’ first victory in the United Rugby Championship for 15 months but they put six tries past Connacht at Rodney Parade.
Oli Burrows, Che Hope (twice), Jared Rosser and Dyer crossed for the Dragons who were also awarded a penalty try while Angus O’Brien kicked 16 points.
Tiatia also believes this victory was a huge shot in the arm for the professional game in Wales which has been struggling of late.
“All the regions at the moment are going through a couple of things around the governance and where we are heading,” Tiatia told Premier Sports.
“The group are very tight and I speak for all the teams and how tight they are trying to stay connected around the identity of their club but also the tribalism that will be on show next week and the following week.
“We’ve got local derby games which are very important but also you heard the crowd tonight and how much they love their team.
“We are no different to the Ospreys who are my old team and I love them, the Scarlets and then Peely down there. I love those guys and then we’ve got Cardiff next week and I love those guys as well.
“It has been brewing for a while and we haven’t won a game in a little while.
“The last time we won a game was against the Ospreys in our first game last year so it has been brewing.
“It will create confidence and actually create habits that pros need to grow. We’ve got some young guys in the group and they are getting better every day.”
Tiatia was also quick to praise some of the younger players in the Dragons squad, including 20-year-old Wales youth international flanker Beddall.
“We played with momentum and we played with confidence,” he said. “We moved the ball a little bit more than we are used to but I just wanted the players to play a lot freer than they have been.
“Our young leadership group with Gus and Ben Carter in the middle they understand how to keep the scoreboard pressure on but also we forced Connacht to chase.
“We talk about the last 20 minutes, review and look at how we can improve there. Things are going really well.
“We tried to get some of our young guys exposure. I thought Harry Beddall was outstanding again given the opportunity.
“There were some really good moments for our young guys to get exposure at this level and a few things to keep tidying up on.”
Ospreys left to rue inaccuracies as Moriarty absence explained
Ospreys head coach Mark Jones says his team were made to pay for their inaccuracies as they slipped to a 26-10 defeat to Munster in Bridgend.
Jones’ side got outmuscled by an impressive Munster outfit who were far stronger up-front and efficient behind the scrum Shane Daly, Lee Barron, Jacob Crowley and Mike Haley with Crowley also kicking six points.
All the Ospreys could muster was a single try from Morgan Morris along with five points from the boot of Dan Edwards.
“There’s two things really our own accuracy around our general game rather than one specific area,” said Jones.
“But most areas outside of the first 20 minutes I thought we were very innacurate which resulted in us not converting when we were in the red zone.
“I think that 12-3 at the time to 19-3 is a big shift. I think from that we probably chased a bit in the second-half and we weren’t particularly accurate around how we kept the ball.
“I think they did a really good job around our attacking breakdown around their physicality in holding us up and getting a lot of time in the tackle.
“We were pretty much facing a brick wall for a lot of the half and we couldn’t really get the penetration that we were looking for and we knew we could get.”
Jones has revealed he will have some key players back from injury for the Boxing Day derby against the Scarlets in Llanelli.
“Ross (Moriarty) was a little bit banged up. He’s played high minutes in all our games this season.
“With Morgan Morris coming back and with Morsy (Morgan Morse), Deavsy (Harri Deavies) and James Ratti we have cover there.
“We feel it was a week we could rotate a little bit and try to get some energy into Ross but he’s all good.
“Gareth Thomas is struggling a little bit with his calf issue but we are just monitoring that at the moment.
“Garyn Phillips should hopefully back next week as well. He was just struggling with a small issue but should be around it.
“We’ll have a few guys who will be available next week who weren’t available tonight.”
Glasgow claim 12-point victory over Edinburgh
By Press Association Sport Staff
Glasgow will take a 12-point lead into the second leg of the 1872 Cup at Murrayfield next Saturday after claiming a bonus-point 24-12 victory over Edinburgh at Hampden.
The rivals were separated by just two points at the break as Warriors led 7-5 before flexing their muscles in the second half in front of a crowd of 21,093 at Scotland’s national football stadium.
The deadlock was broken in the 10th minute when Glasgow back-rower Matt Fagerson pushed over from close range, with Adam Hastings adding the extras.
Edinburgh hit back in the 28th minute as Dylan Richardson barged over off the back of a lineout maul, but Cameron Scott was off target with the conversion.
Glasgow took command of the scoreboard in the third quarter when forwards Rory Darge and Gregor Hiddleston both crossed the line within four minutes of each other.
Edinburgh got themselves back into the match through Grant Gilchrist in the 72nd minute but substitute Seb Stephen made the game safe in the closing stages, with visiting second-row Callum Hunter-Hill sin-binned for an infringement.
