The Dragons amateur team travelled to Hendy RFC to play the Scarlets last Tuesday in search of a win to clinch the regional championship.
The game was played at a high tempo with the Scarlets setting the pace, but both sides were happy to play an open and expansive game that proved to be great entertainment for the crowd. After some early pressure the Scarlets opened the scoring with their outside half kicking a penalty. This spurred The Dragons on and minutes later they scored through Greg Callow (Bargoed) with Jamie Howells adding the conversion.
The Dragons started to pressurise the Scarlets pack particularly in the front five and after The Dragons pack disrupted the Scarlets ball this allowed David Ford (Newbridge) to score underneath the posts with Howells converting.
The Scarlets responded to The Dragons try within two minutes, with The Dragons awarded a scrum they went blind only for the Scarlets outside half to intercept the pass and score in the corner. At half time the score was 14-8 to The Dragons.
The second half started as the first, full of commitment and endeavour and The Dragons pack continued to have the upper hand in the scrums with Ross Jones, Leigh Meades (Bargoed) and Darren Preece (Pontypool) proving too powerful for the Scarlets front row.
This allowed the backs to make good head way through midfield with Shaun Powell bursting through the defensive line on a number of occasions. After attacking down the right hand side The Dragons spread the ball left with Greg Callow (Bargoed) floating the ball over his head to find Lee Pearson (Bargoed) to score in the corner.
With the ascendancy in the scrum and lineout, The Dragons drove from a lineout which produced a score for second row Jamie Noble (Pontypool).
The Scarlets replied with some good handling from their backs and released their full back who scored under the posts, the try was converted by their outside half to bring the score to 26-15.
Within the dying minutes The Dragons pack opted for a scrum from a penalty and this proved dividends with the referee awarding the penalty try and securing the win for the amateur Dragons as they retained the Regional Cup for the second successive season.
Speaking after the game, coach to the amateurs Gerry Roberts said, "All credit must go to the players in The Dragons amateur squad. Their commitment and attitude towards this competition has been outstanding. I would also like to thank the coaching staff who have been fully committed to this squad. Without question the success of this team would not have happened if it wasn't for the support of the clubs in our region."
