As debuts go, Ben Healy’s first outing in an Edinburgh shirt couldn’t have gone much better or been more hurtful for the Dragons.
His boot condemned the hosts to yet another home defeat as he got the Scottish capital team’s United Rugby Championship season off to a winning start with an immaculate 17-point contribution.
You had to go back 51 weeks for the last time Dai Flanagan’s Dragons had won a URC match at Rodney Parade, but despite hopes being high for a significant upsurge in fortunes this season they let slip a 14-point lead to lose again.
Gutsy, brave, even bold at times, but simply lacking in real quality and power. Edinburgh dominated up front, commanded the breakdown, and Healy did the rest.
Having arrived from URC champions Munster in the summer he gave new head coach Sean Everitt a taste of what he can bring. His goalkicking was immaculate, and his game management equally impressive. It was also his show and go that created the break for Ben Vallacott to race to the line for a second-half try. On top of that, his kicking out of hand in the second half kept the Dragons penned in their own half.
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“It was a great debut from Ben. He gave us what we wanted, and that was goal kicking,” said Everitt. “That was something that let us down last season. His game management was good; the contestable kicks were pin-point, and we turned them over a couple of times and got good reward from that.”
If the pre-season wins over Ospreys and Scarlets had whetted the appetite of the home fans ahead of the new campaign, it didn’t take long for them to have something to shout about. They were on their feet for real after 80 seconds to roar their approval for Sio Tomkinson’s try.
A line-out on the Edinburgh 22 was initially driven on a few metres before the back line was given its first chance to shine. A pass behind caused confusion and all of a sudden Jared Rosser burst through a gap. Tomkinson was on his inside and took a pass to run in unopposed at the posts. Cai Evans had the simplest task in adding the extras, and he then hit the target from a wider angle 15 minutes later when Corey Baldwin scored their second try.
Once again it was the line-out that created the platform after a kick into the corner. Bradley Griffiths was held up just short on the drive, but when the ball emerged it took a simple cross-kick to Baldwin to score.
As Edinburgh gradually got into their stride, dominating possession and territory, as well as the penalty count from Irish official Eoghan Cross — it was 9-4 in Edinburgh’s favour at the break and 17-9 by the end — they created chances.
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But twice they saw line-out drives from five metres held up and then on a third occasion conceded a scrum when the Dragons’ forwards sacked them. Their dominance of territory for the final hour gave them the platform, and momentum, to gradually reduce the deficit.
Healy and Evans swapped penalties in the opening five minutes of the second half, and then Healy paved the way for Vellacott’s try, which he duly converted. His fourth penalty eight minutes from time eventually edged his side in front before he landed a fifth with the final kick of the match.
“I’m gutted because once again it was there for us,” said Dragons coach Dai Flanagan. “The second 20 minutes of the first half was where we lost it — we lost our momentum and we lost the referee because we were ill-disciplined. You won’t win at any level conceding the number of penalties we gave away, especially when you are playing against a kicker like Ben Healy. We can’t overreact and we know that closing out games is one of our biggest work ons.”
Star player Ben Healy (Edinburgh)
Scorers: Dragons: Tries S Tomkinson (2), C Baldwin (17); Cons C Evans (3, 18); Pen C Evans (45)
Edinburgh: Try B Vellacott (65); Con B Healy (66); Pens B Healy (29, 43, 55, 72, 80)
Dragons C Evans (W Reed 66); C Baldwin (J Dixon 58), S Tomkinson, S Hughes (captain), J Rosser; A O’Brien, R Williams (D Blacker 64); R Martinez (R Jones 64), B Roberts, L Fairbrother (L Yendle 64), M Screech Griffiths (J Davies 70), B Carter, G Nott (S Lonsdale 64), H Keddie (S Lonsdale 35-41), O Griffiths
Edinburgh C Scott (C Dean 74); R McCann (J Edmunds 74), M Bennett, M Currie, W Goosen; B Healy, B Vellacott (captain); B Venter (R Hislop 62), D Cherry (A McBurney 69), J Sebastian (A Williams 62), G Young, J Hodgson (M Sykes 62), T Dodd, C Neild (C Boyle 32), L Crosbie
Referee Eoghan Cross (IRFU) Attendance 4,012