Dragons 26-8 Treviso: Home side sink struggling Italians
Last Updated: 06/01/17 9:56pm
Newport Gwent Dragons grabbed their first win of 2017 and their fourth of the Guinness PRO12 season as they comfortably beat Benetton Treviso 26-8 at Rodney Parade.
Fly-half Angus O'Brien was the main man for the Welsh region as he landed 14 points via three penalties, a conversion and a drop goal.
Scrum-half Sarel Pretorious got a first-half try for the home side, with skipper Lewis Evans getting another after the break, the latter converted by replacement stand-off Dorian Jones.
Treviso's points came from a try from scrum-half Tito Tebaldi and a penalty by fly-half Tommaso Allan.
It was not the prettiest of first-halves but Dragons head coach Kingsley Jones would have been quietly satisfied to go into the break 13-8 ahead after failing to score a point in the New Year's Day home derby defeat to the Ospreys.
O'Brien got the first points of the night when he landed a 15-metre penalty from under the Treviso posts.
Moments later, O'Brien sent up a high kick from inside his own 22 which resulted in the Italians taking the lead.
As both sides watched the ball bounce on the home 10-metre line, Tebaldi reacted quickest to seize it and race diagonally right to the corner and just getting home as the desperate defence came tumbling in.
Allan missed the conversion but put Treviso five points ahead when he booted a penalty after the Dragons were penalised for going over the top at a ruck.
But the Welsh outfit hit back when they put pressure on the Italian defence inside their own 22 for Pretorious to snipe towards the posts from a ruck and touch the ball down.
O'Brien's conversion was simple and suddenly the home side were back in front by two points.
The home scrum-half was then sin-binned when he grabbed a Treviso ball from the back of an attacking scrum and dashed upfield.
Referee Mike Adamson said he had deliberately slapped the ball away from Tebaldi's grip and yellow carded him.
However, the Italians were unable to take advantage of the extra man and a mistake 41 metres out from their own posts deep into injury time saw O'Brien actually extend the Dragons lead.
And, as both coaches rang the changes in the second half, O'Brien pushed the Dragons further ahead with a neat drop goal and a simple 15-metre penalty.
Treviso were just about ready to go home when they conceded another penalty. The Dragons went for an attacking lineout and, seconds later, a rumbling maul saw flanker Evans complete a great game with a worthy try.