Edinburgh feel the heat of Dragons in Wales

Two tries from wing Jared Rosser and a dogged performance lifted the Dragons off the foot of Guinness PRO14 Conference B and left Edinburgh with just a losing bonus point to show for their efforts, losing 18-12 at Rodney Parade.

Dougie Fife scored one of Edinburgh's tries, Darcy Graham the other

The win, their third of the league campaign so far, surpassed the Dragons’ two solitary victories from last season as fly-half Jason Tovey added eight points to Rosser’s touchdowns with two penalites and a conversion.

Edinburgh threatened and crossed the home line twice with tries from full-back Dougie Fife and wing Darcy Graham, with replacement Jaco van der Walt booting a conversion.

Tovey kicked an 11th minute penalty but it was stalemate between the two 22 metre lines before Rosser, assisted by full-back Jordan Williams, scored his first try, with Tovey kicking the extras.

Edinburgh tried to hit back before the interval and had the Welsh region in all sorts of trouble on their own line.

Lock James Hodgson dashed to within metres of the Dragons posts but he was hauled down. From there, Edinburgh were awarded a series of penalties which they opted to scrummage rather than kick for the posts.

Time and again, the home defence held firm before centre Chris Dean cut a line through the midfield, set-up by Henry Pyrgos, from ten metres.

A blistering tackle on the line, though, meant it went to a replay decision on the big screen and, with no real conclusion, referee Stuart Barry decided to give the Welsh side the benefit of the doubt.

However, Edinburgh were not to be denied and, bang on half-time, fly-half Simon Hickey made a great burst through the middle and threw a long pass out right for Fife to grab and dive in at the corner for an unconverted touchdown.

It was all Dragons for 15 minutes after the break but Edinburgh held off the continuous attacking waves.

But they cracked when a ruck near the posts allowed scrum-half Rhodri Williams to link with Tovey, and Jordan Williams sent Rosser over on the right for an unconverted score.

Then, Tovey kicked a penalty with 15 minutes remainng, mkaing it 18-5.

Edinburgh got back into the game although in controversial circumstances. Van der Walt sliced through the defence on the 22 and fed Graham on the burst. He was tackled and rolled on his back by home wing Hallam Amos but, after an age checking it on the big screen, the referee said Graham had just managed to touch down. Van der Walt added the extras.