URC: Dragons hammered 37-18 by Ospreys as Tomkinson sees red

Head coach Dai Flanagan had demanded his side didn’t “limp out of the season” yet they had a United Rugby Championship shocker in Swansea.

This was an embarrassing defeat that was reminiscent of last year – for all the talk of progress it is nine straight league losses since the success against Zebre in October with Ulster and the Scarlets to come.

The Dragons were hoping they would be going to Glasgow for their last 16 tie in the European Challenge Cup with a spring in their step.

Instead they travel after an awful performance and they will be without centre Sio Tomkinson, who was sent off early in the second half for a dangerous, mindless high shot on Jack Walsh.

Sio Tomkinson is sent off for a high tackle by Jaco Peyper (Image: Huw Evans Agency)

Jaco Peyper got it wrong when sending England’s Freddie Steward off in the Six Nations finale in Ireland but the South African official had an easy choice in Swansea.

The Dragons trailed 18-6 after a shocking first half featuring penalties, scrum pressure turnovers, a yellow card for Ross Moriarty and another injury for Ollie Griffiths, who was making his third appearance of the season and returning from a pectoral muscle injury.

Loosehead Nicky Smith and blindside flanker Dan Lydiate crossed for the Ospreys, who were comfortably the better side even without exactly being sparkling ahead of their Champions Cup clash with Saracens.

Their bonus came courtesy of scores by number eight Morgan Morris and centre Keiran Williams and the game drifted to its conclusion.

The Dragons have stayed in the fight in most games this season but this was game over with almost half the game to go, with a score by Jordan Williams and a penalty try just limiting the damage.

Make no mistake, they need to be much, much better to make a game of it against the Warriors at Scotstoun next Saturday evening.

The visitors fell behind in the seventh minute after being caught out by a one-two at the front of a lineout with former Dragons hooker Sam Parry bursting into the 22.

The Ospreys put the pressure on with some direct if predictable running before an offload by Alun Wyn Jones added impetus and prop Smith went over despite the best efforts of fly-half Will Reed.

Jack Walsh converted for a 7-0 lead and then traded penalties with opposite number Reed.

It certainly wasn’t a classic to match the Rodney Parade clash in October with the Dragons under pressure at the scrum and breakdown, which translated to the scoreboard when their fly-half punished an off-the-ball tackle by Lloyd Fairbrother approaching the half hour.

The Ospreys were then gifted the chance to stretch away before the break when Moriarty was sin-binned for a late hit on Walsh as he cleared inside his 22.

Jaco Peyper dished out the yellow after watching the footage on the big screen, the hosts went for the corner and Parry should have got their second try only to lose control of the ball after peeling off a driving lineout.

Griffiths then trudged off to be replaced by Aaron Wainwright and the Ospreys promptly got their second, former Dragons captain Dan Lydiate in the left corner to make it 18-3 after a burst down the blindside by his fellow flanker Ethan Roots.

It was a fine finish by the Wales and Lions international but the defence by lock Sean Lonsdale was poor.

The Dragons did have the final say of the half when full-back O’Brien boomed over a penalty from a yard inside his own half but it was a very poor first 40 from the visitors.

Morgan Morris crashes over for the Ospreys against the Dragons (Image: Huw Evans Agency)

They started the second just as poorly to concede a try inside three minutes when number eight Morgan Morris was worked in down the left after wing Jordan Williams was caught in no-man’s land.

It got worse.

The Ospreys were playing with penalty advantage and Tomkinson was shown red for a ridiculous high tackle on Walsh, a dismissal that will rule him out of Glasgow and probably the URC run-in.

The bonus soon came when full-back Iestyn Hopkins cantered over courtesy of an overlap before the Dragons went over themselves.

Wainwright’s clever handling on the touchline allowed Jordan Williams to chip over the top and then be the beneficiary of a lucky bounce.

However, the other line was soon crossed after an overthrown lineout led to Ospreys centre Keiran Williams going over for a try that Luke Scully converted for 37-11 entering the final quarter.

Flanagan turned to his bench both to protect some players ahead of Glasgow and offer others a chance to force their way into the XV.

Ospreys hooker Dewi Lake was sin-binned for a high tackle on fellow Wales front rower Bradley Roberts in the 67th minute.

Chris Coleman was held up over the line as the Dragons played for pride and then were awarded a penalty try in the 75th minute after a lineout drive was illegally stopped, an offence that also saw loosehead Gareth Thomas shown yellow.

Ospreys scorers: tries – N Smith, Lydiate, Morris, Hopkins, K Williams; conversions – Walsh, Scully (2); penalties – Walsh (2).

Dragons: O’Brien; J Williams (Clark 64), Tomkinson, S Hughes, Hewitt; Reed, R Williams (L Jones 57); R Jones (Seiuli 47), Dee (B Roberts 52), Fairbrother (Coleman 44), Lonsdale, Nott (H Taylor 60), Moriarty, Keddie (captain, Basham 52), Griffiths (Wainwright 35).

Scorers: tries – J Williams, penalty; penalties – Reed, O’Brien.

Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa).

Attendance: 7,270.