On a freezing cold night in Newport, the Dragons were downed by the talent of Edinburgh’s Argentina pair Emiliano Boffelli and Ramiro Moyano.

In an entertaining United Rugby Championship clash, Dean Ryan’s men struggled to get going and Mike Blair’s side played some fine rugby as their back-line sparkled.

Away halfbacks Ben Vellacott and Blair Kinghorn starred and Luke Crosbie was the official man of the match, but it was Boffelli and Moyano who benefited as they scored a try and a brace respectively. Dragons still pushed hard after being blown away at the start.

But despite efforts from Sam Davies and Jonah Holmes, they were – as so often is the case for Dean Ryan’s side – beaten narrowly. Edinburgh’s bonus-point victory was just reward for their adventure.
Dragons backs Gonzalo Bertranou and Holmes wore the now legal tights underneath their shorts on a baltic Newport evening, but the hosts were caught cold by Edinburgh’s start.

The Scottish side counterattacked from their own 22. Nick Haining found space and Argentina’s Boffelli – who only arrived in Edinburgh’s camp this week following Test duty – was in support.

The full-back kicked ahead and won the race to the line to score.

Kinghorn converted and the Dragons’ woes were added to when their flanker Taine Basham – a breakout star of Wales’ autumn campaign – was forced off. It was all Edinburgh.

The Scottish side had come to play, but their desire to attack was backed by a strong scrum from which they won an early penalty. Dragons weren’t helped by Jamie Roberts kicking out on the full after the ball had been passed back into the home side’s 22. It gave Edinburgh field position.

A swirling wind around Rodney Parade made things difficult and it took a clearance kick from Davies dead with the result an Edinburgh scrum back on the home 22.
From the set-piece, Damien Hoyland went over the line following a fantastic run although he was held up by Davies. Edinburgh were utterly dominant. James Lang steamed through.

It was no surprise then when Boffelli’s fellow Argentine Moyano went over in the left corner. With Basham off, Dragons couldn’t slow down Edinburgh’s speed off ball at the breakdown.

The Welsh side were all at sea and lucky to only be 12-0 down after the first quarter, but out of nowhere they hit back from a turnover. Jordan Williams found his captain Harrison Keddie with a lovely offload out of contact. Keddie steamed forwards and Davies was in support to score underneath the posts for a try he improved. Davies then created a score for Holmes.

MORE NEWS:

It was a lovely, long pass from the fly-half and after Holmes did the rest, Davies’ kick gave Dragons the lead against all the odds.
But Edinburgh hit back to go to the break with a three-point advantage, Moyano winning an ugly race to the line after the ball had been hacked forwards.
Dragons’ Wales prop Leon Brown appeared for the second half for his first appearance of the season, but Kinghorn left everyone else on the pitch trailing in his wake with another run.

Kinghorn is a lovely, balanced runner capable of playing several positions. He was operating at fly-half here, but was also surrounded by exceptional performances from team-mates Vellacott, Boffelli and No 8 Magnus Bradbury. Edinburgh had decided to tighten up their game.

Kinghorn kicked a simple penalty for a 20-14 lead going into the final quarter. Davies made a mess of the restart and had to get back to avert a dangerous Hoyland counter.
It summed up Edinburgh’s adventurous approach as they played at tempo and with an aggression at the contact area. Dragons, in fairness, had done well to stay in the fight.

But the Scottish forwards then got to work again to earn Kinghorn – who missed the conversion attempts of both Moyano’s tries – another shot at goal.

His 69th minute kick was successful and Edinburgh weren’t going to throw victory away from there.

Both sides pushed for tries late on. Holmes picked up a kick ahead, but a losing bonus point escaped Ryan’s men and Hoyland capped off a perfect evening for Edinburgh with a try in the final minute.

Kinghorn didn’t miss as he converted the bonus-point try.  

Scorers:
Dragons
Tries: S Davies 23, J Holmes 33
Cons: S Davies 24, 34 

Edinburgh
Tries: E Boffellii 3, R Moyano 19, 37, D Hoyland 80+1
Cons: B Kinghorn 4, 80+2
Pens: B Kinghorn 57, 69  

Dragons: J Williams; J Holmes, J Dixon (A Owen 37), J Roberts, R Dyer (J Olowofela 69); S Davies, G Bertranou; G Bateman (J Reynolds 69), T Davies (E Shipp 59), C Coleman (L Brown 40), B Carter (J Davies 69), J Maksymiw, H Keddie (capt), T Basham (H Taylor 4), O Griffiths 

Replacement not used: D Babos 

Edinburgh: E Boffelli; D Hoyland, M Currie, J Lang (C Hutchison 37), R Moyano (C Savala 75); B Kinghorn, B Vellacott (capt) (H Pyrgos 72), B Venter (H Courtney 75), A McBurney (D Cherry 50), WP Nel (A Williams 69), M Sykes, J Hodgson, N Haining (C Boyle 61), L Crosbie, M Bradbury (B Muncaster 69) 

Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)
Star man: Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh)
Attendance: 5,552