Talented 20-year-old back Rosser has had Guinness PRO14 experience with Bernard Jackman’s senior side and he excelled on the wing against the Irish raiders.
Rosser scored a first-half brace which included one sublime individual effort and he then blew Connacht away with a hat-trick after the break to make him the game’s stand-out performer. Five individual tries in any game, at any level, is to be applauded.
“We really enjoyed it out there. The boys were saying in the changing room afterwards how much they enjoyed the game,” a delighted Rosser said.
“Last week against the Blues we didn't throw that extra pass. The game was quite direct and we didn't really play after a couple of phases, so we tried to play a more attacking game this week.
“We were just trying to focus on making that extra pass and trusting our skills and playing to our strengths. We did that and I think it came off.
“I think that anyone who played was going to buy into what we wanted to do this week.
“From Monday morning we were saying we wanted to play with a lot of tempo. We practiced that against the seniors on Tuesday and Wednesday and we got a lot of gain from it.”
The home side went to the break 22-10 ahead with the Irish points coming via a Conor McKeon try and the boot of Conor Fitzgerald.
Gerard Ellis, a brace from Rosser, and Chris Coleman had given the Dragons a comfortable interval lead and the scoring intensified after the break.
Connacht came roaring back through Fitzgerald, Colm de Buitlear and Sean O’Brien added a brace.
But in a pulsating tie it was not enough as the outstanding Rosser scored three more of his own and Carwyn Penny and Calvin Wellington completed a home success.
Rosser, unsurprisingly, was man of the match and he praised this season’s new Celtic Cup competition as a good way of allowing the younger Dragons players to sample some game time.
The match with Connacht A was a thrilling spectacle and Rosser added: “I think the Celtic Cup is a good competition. It definitely offers a speed which is almost as quick as the PRO14.
“For the boys who haven't had that much game time for the seniors, it's great for them. It's another stepping stone rather than making that step straight from the Wales Under-20’s or the Premiership."
Rosser’s display will surely have grabbed the attention of senior head coach Jackman with future PRO14 encounters in mind.
“I had a bit of a niggle a couple of weeks ago so this is only my second game back now,” Rosser said. “For me it's just about trying to get back into the swing of things.”
