The Dragons continued their unbeaten run with another hard fought win, this time against a feisty Leeds outfit determined to reverse a comfortable Dragons victory at Castle Park in early December.

Despite an unimpressive opening the Dragons eventually outscored their opponents 4 tries to 3, coming from behind to record their 9^th win on the bounce, 22 - 19. Tries late in the first half from Drew Noble & Jon Ellis with Dave Millar and Matt Brain settling the outcome in the second period, Phil Mills converting the final try.

In fairness the closing scoreline didn’t accurately reflect the margin between the two sides with the Dragons always looking likely winners. The hometown referee had nothing to do with keeping the scores close – his first half penalty count of 19 to 1 in favour of the Leeds outfit was absolutely correct, our hooker should have been better in the lineout despite the howling gale, feeding in the scrum was perfectly acceptable (but only if you were wearing green) and his assurances that a couple of forward passes were fine so the opening breakaway tries stood. Mmmmm.

That aside, wasting their first scoring opportunity didn’t help the Dragons’ cause. On 20 mins, already 14 – 0 down, a solid catch and drive from a lineout on the opponents 22 took the maul over the try line, at the back Noble fell over and grounded the ball three feet over the dead ball line  - to deafening silence and raised eyebrows.

The No 8 redeemed himself shortly afterwards with a customary poach at the back of a rolling maul to score in the corner, this time to desperate shouts of “DOWN, DOWN” ringing in his ears.

The second try followed a break from half way by Brain, he popped inside to Thomas who offloaded deftly in the tackle to Ellis, he dived [tripped] for the line and momentum carried him over from an extraordinary distance. As the game wore on the Dragons got their act together and having the elements in their favour were the only team to register points in the second half. Tries coming from Millar and Brain, a lively threat throughout on his Dragons debut.

The veterans are enjoying a very successful couple of seasons despite (or maybe because of) their less than conventional preparations before a game – warm ups consist of nothing more than a couple of lineouts from the forwards and the backs just do a bit of milling about. Also, considering the sight of (for the second time this season) Glenn Storey taking the field wearing a pair of gloves and a woolly jumper underneath his playing jersey and this week it was the turn of Chris Conway to fail to navigate his way to the opposition ground until just after half-time, the Captain is a little bemused that a formula of organised chaos is reaping such positive rewards - the Dragons have won 14 of 12 matches this season.

A truly successful day was topped off with a pint or two of Tetley’s at the famous Gaping Goose where the exploits of the day were heartily discussed with our friends from Phoenix, Thornensians and Garforth. Rugby at it’s best!

The Weasel