Cardiff hold on to edge out Derby rivals Dragons

Cardiff bounced back from last week’s defeat to Scarlets by clinging on to claim a 22-19 victory over Dragons at the Arms Park.

Dragons narrowed the deficit to three points with two minutes left following a penalty try after Tinus de Beer was held up over the line by Josh McNally, who made the save from an offside position.

McNally was subsequently sin-binned but despite being down to 14 for the dying moments of the contest, the Blue and Blacks withstood some late pressure from their opponents to get back to winning ways after a 21-17 reverse by Scarlets last Friday.

The teams could went in at the break level at 12-12, with a brace from Che Hope – taking his tally to four tries in two games – cancelled out by Javan Sebastian and Alex Mann.

Ben Thomas teed up Josh Adams to go over on the left flank for a converted try as Cardiff hit the front in the 48th minute.

Callum Sheedy then booted a 70th-minute penalty to give Cardiff a 10-point cushion and despite the late drama, it was the hosts celebrating a 21st successive victory over Dragons.