Warriors snap losing streak

Glasgow landed their first win in six games in all tournaments on Sunday with a 27-19 Magners League victory over Newport Gwent Dragons.

The Warriors, who are now back in the league's top four and on course for the play-offs, posted three tries en-route to their win courtesy of Bernardo Stortoni, DTH van der Merwe and Colin Shaw, while Dan Parks kicked four penalties.

Dragons earned 12 of their points through the boot of Jason Tovey, before Will Harries scored a converted try in the final minutes.

Battling

The visitors gave a battling display but fell just short of a bonus point which would have boosted their own chances of finishing the season in the top four.

The Scottish side worked hard to deny Dragons any real possession, despite their famous 'Killer Bs' back row suffering upset ahead of kick-off as John Barclay was forced to pull out with a sickness bug.

Kelly Brown switched flanks on the scrum and Scotland A cap James Eddie was brought into the starting XV with the chance to prove himself for next season, when Brown moves to Saracens.

But Eddie's outing was cut short when he suffered an injury to his right ankle nine minutes in and was forced to withdraw, while Richie Vernon was called off the bench.

Glasgow had already secured a fourth minute lead when Stortoni, fed by Graeme Morrison, slipped through a gap for the opening try of the game, which Parks failed to convert.

Dragons replied swiftly with two penalties from Tovey in quick succession, edging one point clear after 16 minutes.

The Warriors reclaimed their advantage five minutes later when winger Van Der Merwe hacked long and won the chase to cross. Parks again missed out on the extras.

Tovey kicked his third penalty but it was Glasgow that were in charge by the end of the first half after Parks kicked two penalties of his own to widen the lead to 16-9.

Dragons centre Matthew Watkins was sin-binned four minutes after the restart for a high tackle on Max Evans and Parks sent over a straightforward penalty.

Both sides were then given opportunities due to scrappy handling at either end, but neither team seemed able to seize the initiative.

Reward

It was instead left to Parks to edge Glasgow further in front with his fourth penalty after 63 minutes, while Tovey came back with his own soon after.

At nine minutes from time Glasgow were rewarded for piling pressure on the visitors as Evans booted to the Dragons line and winger Shaw swooped to grab an unconverted try.

The final minutes saw Harries post Dragons' solitary score, with James Arlidge converting, but it was the home side that were celebrating on the whistle after keeping their play-off ambitions intact.