THE Dragons paid the price for a sluggish start after giving the Stormers a scare with a stirring second-half comeback in the United Rugby Championship.
The Rodney Parade club broke their duck on the road thanks to four tries in Port Elizabeth yet will be wondering what might have been after a 34-26 loss to the champions.
The Stormers were dominant in the first half to race into a 28-0 lead thanks to tries by flanker Junior Pokomela, hooker Joseph Dweba, centre Ruhan Nel and fly-half Manie Libbok.
However, the Dragons came storming back with efforts by wing Jordan Williams, loosehead Aki Seiuli, fly-half JJ Hanrahan and prop Josh Reynolds.
That cut the gap to eight points and the Stormers were grateful for the earlier decision to build a buffer by kicking penalties, while the tourists would have been frustrated at a very harsh yellow card for Sio Tomkinson.
Nonetheless, Dai Flanagan would have been thrilled by the spirit shown by his squad and the impact he got from the bench.
It could have turned into one of the Dragons’ many embarrassing thrashings but instead they have plenty to take into the European Challenge Cup reunion with the Lions.
They will be desperate to finish an encouraging three-game tour with a victory to take into the home game with Pau and festive derbies.
The Stormers played with attacking intent from the off yet it was through the power game that they opened the scoring in the tenth minute.
Dragons centre Max Clark was pinged for holding on and the hosts turned down a shot at goal in favour of going for the corner.
Playing with penalty advantage, Pokomela burst through the middle of the drive for a try that Libbok converted.
It was same again in the 16th minute with the Stormers winning a scrum penalty that the Springboks fly-half booted majestically from halfway to five metres out.
That gave his pack a golden opportunity that they grasped with Dweba hitting his man then guiding the drive over for another seven-pointer.
That was the bludgeon approach but the third came from the Stormers’ enterprise after a superb claim by wing Tristan Leyds in an aerial contest with JJ Hanrahan.
The hosts whipped the ball from the right flank to the left where Leolin Zas and Clayton Blommetjies combined to put centre Nel over for a cracker.
At 21-0 the Dragons were staring down the barrel; the error count was too high and the set piece was under serious stress.
The Stormers had to wait until 36 minutes for the bonus, and it was an embarrassing score when it came.
The Dragons’ scrum was demolished and the South Africans exploiting the back row being taken out of the game; Libbok stepped Rhodri Williams after he over-chased, eased past wing Jordan Williams and cantered over for a try that Blommetjies converted via the left post.
It was one-way traffic yet the tourists ensured they wouldn’t be nilled when Jordan Williams picked off a pass to run in from 50 metres with Hanrahan making it 28-7 with the final kick of the half.
The Dragons started the second half impressively and got their reward when they kicked a penalty to the corner and loosehead Seiuli, who was under pressure at the scrum, crossed from the drive.
Hanrahan’s conversion struck the post and bounced out and the frustration was compounded by a daft penalty for blocking by Matthew Screech from the restart that gifted Libbok three points.
It was much more of a contest but the Dragons suffered a blow in the 57th minute when a counter-attack ended with Tomkinson harshly being yellow-carded for taking an attacker out after he kicked through.
Irish referee Frank Murphy deemed it was foul play when, at full speed, it simply looked like a collision. Libbok twisted the knife with three points to make it 34-12.
That was followed by promising centre Aneurin Owen being forced off after injuring his left ankle just minutes after being introduced from the bench, a blow that led to another chance for promising fly-half Will Reed and a backline rejig.
The Dragons emerged from the sin bin without major damage and then struck for a third try with 10 minutes to go, and it was a super score made by replacements.
Flanker Ben Fry made a line break and offloads by back rower Harri Keddie and scrum-half Lewis Jones put Hanrahan under the posts with the conversion making it 34-19.
They had 10 minutes to find one more score and it came from another lineout drive with loosehead Reynolds powering over.
Reed converted but the Dragons were unable to get the territory to add a losing bonus to their four tries.
However, adding to their league tally that few saw coming just before half-time.
Stormers scorers: tries – Pokomela, Dweba, Nel, Libbok; conversions – Libbok (3), Blommetjies; penalties – Libbok (2).
Dragons: O’Brien (Clark 60); Tomkinson, S Hughes, Clark (Owen 58, Reed 60), J Williams; Hanrahan, R Williams (L Jones 58); Seiuli (Reynolds 72), B Roberts (Benjamin 58), Fairbrother (Coleman 40), Screech, Lonsdale, Taylor, Wainwright (Keddie 44), Moriarty (captain, Fry 67).
Scorers: tries – J Williams, Seiuli, Hanrahan, Reynolds; conversions – Hanrahan, Reed (2).
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