News

Sweeney drop-kicks Dragons to victory

Saturday 08th December 2007

Ceri Sweeney: Scored fifteen points for the Dragons

The Dragons held on for a crucial 35-33 win against Benetton Treviso in a titanic Heineken Cup battle at Stadio Comunale di Monigo on Saturday.

The Italians led with seven minutes of the match remaining, until Dragons' fly-half Ceri Sweeney kicked a match-winning drop-goal to put his Welsh club in front.

The Dragons appeared to have the game in the bag when Richard Mustoe clinched the bonus-point fourth try within two minutes of the second half.

But the Italian champions produced a rousing response, taking the lead through South African Marius Goosen before Sweeney finally sealed the Dragons' win

Treviso lost experienced prop Salvatore Costanzo inside six minutes to a leg injury and found themselves three points behind a minute later following Sweeney's opening penalty in front of the posts.

Goosen twice levelled the scores following Sweeney's second but it was a loose kick that opened the doors for the Dragons' first try.

Kevin Morgan scooped up possession midway inside Treviso's half and beat two men before American Paul Emerick sent captain Colin Charvis over after 18 minutes. Sweeney added the conversion.

Just two minutes later Newport were in for a second, this time through prop Rhys Thomas after Morgan's crossfield kick found Luke Charteris in space before his basketball pass set the front-row on his way.

Sweeney's conversion was wide but the Dragons led 18-6 until the 33rd minute when Rhodri Gomer-Davies extended it further.

Newport pressed left and right before Emerick was held up inches short of the line and Gomer-Davies followed up, picking up and diving over for a try.

It was not until first-half injury time that the home crowd had something more to cheer when prop Nicolas De Gregory steamed over to hand Treviso a lifeline.

That hope looked to have evaporated when Richard Mustoe scorched through within two minutes of the restart.

The wing darted on to Sweeney's inside pass and galloped in from 40 yards out to secure a bonus point and Sweeney's conversion put Newport 32-13 ahead.

But Treviso launched a stunning comeback and captain Goosen was at the heart of it.

Dragons prop Thomas was shown a yellow card after 45 minutes for his team's persistent infringements and five minutes later Argentina wing Lucas Borges raced onto Robert Barbieri's pass to score.

Sweeney missed the chance to steady the ship when his penalty drifted wide and Treviso capitalised when Alberto Sgarbi beat Mustoe with ease to score a third try for Treviso.

Goosen added the conversion as well as two long-range penalties to put the home side 33-32 ahead 15 minutes from time.

But the Dragons switched back on and Sweeney's late drop-goal was enough to secure all five points.

The scorers:

For Benetton Treviso:
Tries: De Gregori, Borges, Sgarbi
Cons: Goosen 3
Pens: Goosen 4

For Dragons:
Tries: Charvis, Thomas, Mustoe, Gomer Davies
Cons: Sweeney 3
Pens: Sweeney 2
Drop-goal: Sweeney

Yellow card: R Thomas (Dragons, 46 min)

Benetton Treviso: 15 Brendan Williams, 14 Lucas Borges, 13 Michael Horak, 12 Marius Goosen (c), 11 Alberto Sgarbi, 10 Andrea Marcato, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Dion Kingi, 7 Hottie Louw, 6 Robert Barbieri, 5 Cornelius Van Zyl, 4 Antonio Pavanello, 3 Salvatore Costanzo, 2 Franco Sbaraglini, 1 Nicolas De Gregori.
Replacements: 16 Diego Vidal, 17 Michael Barbieri, 18 Silvio Orlando, 19 Will Johnson, 20 Scott Palmer, 21 Simon Picone, 22 Nathan Mauger.

Dragons: 15 Kevin Morgan, 14 Martyn Thomas, 13 Paul Emerick, 12 Rhodri Gomer-Davies, 11 Richard Mustoe, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 9 Andy Williams, 8 Michael Owen, 7 Richard Parks, 6 Colin Charvis (c), 5 Adam Jones, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Rhys Thomas, 2 Steve Jones, 1 Adam Black.
Replacements: 16 Ben Daly, 17 Huw Gustafson, 18 Joe Bearman, 19 Jamie Ringer, 20 Wayne Evans, 21 Aled Thomas, 22 Ashley Smith.

Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Touch judges: C�dric Marchat (France), Bernard Dal Maso (France)