Basham double cannot save Dragons from Lions loss

United Rugby Championship

Dragons (12) 19

Tries: Keddie, Basham 2 Cons: Evans 2

Lions: (13) 23

Tries: Horn, Cairns Cons: Steyn, Nohamba Pens: Steyn 2, Nohamba

Dragons narrowly missed out on claiming a South African scalp for the second week in a row as Lions maintained their unbeaten start.

Wales back row Taine Basham crossed twice as Dragons out-scored the visitors three tries to two.

But they ran out of steam as the game wore on as Lions claimed a third win in a row for the first time since January.

Quan Horn and man of the match Jarod Cairns crossed either side of half-time, while the boot of Nico Steyn and Sanele Nohamba combined for 13 points.

Will Reed stepped off the bench only to hit the post with a 69th-minute penalty, but Dragons were still able to claim a losing bonus point.

Dragons, beaten late by Sharks last week, impressed when the game was an arm-wrestle, particularly through their back-row trio of Shane Lewis-Hughes, Harrison Keddie and Basham.

Aneurin Owen also offered a threat in midfield but they were in trouble when the game broke apart and tired badly in the second half.

Dragons payed tribute with a minute's applause in the 17th minute on Sunday to fan Ray Gleed, who died before their match against Sharks last weekend.

Lions may be the least fashionable of the South African sides but led 13-12 at half-time despite a yellow card.

They arrived in Newport unbeaten, after wins over Ulster and Edinburgh, and struck first on their opening away game of the season through Horn.

Dragons recalled Leon Brown, Rodrigo Martinez, Keddie, Joe Westwood and Ewan Rosser, a late replacement for his brother Jared, and all were in the thick of the action.

Keddie intercepted Nico Steyn’s pass and galloped 70 metres up field, out-sprinting the fly-half, to level the scores.

Westwood was among many to benefit from the handling skills of Owen but was also among those guilty of wasting chances by coughing up possession.

It was from Owen’s half-break that Lions hooker Franco Marais was sin-binned for kicking the ball out of Rhodri Williams’ hands.

And just seconds later, Dragons capitalised with a driving maul finished by Basham, scoring for the second game in a row.

Basham and Martinez both conceded penalties – harshly in Martinez’s case – to give Lions the narrowest of leads at the break which was wiped out within moments of the restart.

Rosser earned a penalty from which Ben Carter and Shane Lewis-Hughes edged close, before Basham showed real strength to get through a crowd of legs to score.

But again discipline undermined and some desperately tired tackling undermined Dragons, without a win over South African opposition for more than four years.

Replacement fly-half Nohamba kicked three points before flanker Cairns swatted off Westwood and stepped out of Angus O’Brien’s tackle to score Lions’ crucial second try.

Dragons coach Dai Flanagan recognised the need to freshen up and drafted on five replacement in the space of a few minutes, including prop Cameron Jones for his debut.

But Reed’s attempt to close the gap to a point was as close as they came as Lions, who have only lost two of 13 meetings with Welsh teams, closed out a scoreless final half an hour.

Dragons: Angus O’Brien; Rio Dyer, Joe Westwood, Aneurin Owen, Ewan Rosser; Lloyd Evans, Rhodri Williams; Rodrigo Martinez, Brodie Coghlan, Leon Brown, Ben Carter (capt), Matthew Screech, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Harri Keddie, Taine Basham.

Replacements: Oli Burrows, Cameron Jones, Chris Coleman, Ryan Woodman, Dan Lydiate, Dane Blacker, Will Reed, Harry Wilson.

Lions: Quan Horn; Rabz Maxwane, Erich Cronje, Rynhardt Jonker, Edwill Van Der Merwe; Nico Steyn,Morne Van Den Berg; Juan Schoeman, Franco Marais, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Reinhard Nothnagel, Darrien Landsberg, JC Pretorius, Jarod Cairns, Francke Hord (capt).

Replacements: PJ Botha, Heiko Pohlmann, Conraad van Vuuren, Ruben Schoeman, Renzo du Plessis, Sanele Nohamba, Marius Louw, Henco van Wyk.

Sin bin: Marais (23)

Referee: Fillipo Russo (FIR)

Assistant referees: Adam Jones & Rhys Jones (WRU)

TMO: Stefano Penne (FIR)