By Paul Jones
Dai Flanagan has told his Dragons players their victory over the Scarlets must become the baseline standard and not a high-point one-off.
The Rodney Parade coach – under pressure after his team’s embarrassing capitulation to Cardiff on Boxing Day – praised his team for their 13-12 home win over Dwayne Peel’s men.
There was no happy return for Wales outside-half Sam Costelow as he missed with two kicks at goal that ultimately cost the Scarlets a much-needed win in their BKT United Rugby Championship clash.
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But Flanagan was quick to stress that winning only occasionally as a reaction to a big defeat must not remain the norm for his region.
“We have to make sure this is not a one-off, there is a cycle we have to break,” said Flanagan.
“The raw emotion is pride. We asked the group to come out and front up physically and we looked a different side
“I just want to make a special mention for Sam Costelow, who I worked with for a while. That was very strange for Sam and people can’t hold that against him. He is a fantastic player and we have to back him.”
Scarlets head coach Peel is also a man with the heat of scrutiny on his back and questions over his future are certain to continue after nine defeats in 11 matches.
The visitors had put themselves in a position to win the game and Peel admitted: “It was heartbreaking.
“We put a lot of pressure in that 22. The deemed no try, but from where I was sitting it looked like Vaea got over, so I was disappointed with that call.
“Then, obviously we missed the kick and they put us under pressure. It’s a tough one to take. That’s just one of those things.
“You don’t expect it but it’s happened. It’s tough on Sam but he’ll bounce back.”
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The 22-year-old No 10 had been missing since early November after suffering hamstring and shoulder injuries while playing for Wales against the Barbarians in an uncapped international.
He picked a filthy day to come back in as it rained from start to finish. The poor conditions played a huge part in the game and as a result Costelow failed with a late conversion and penalty after Tom Rogers and Ioan Lloyd had scored tries for the visitors.
There was joy at least for Wales No 8 Aaron Wainwright, who marked his 100th appearance for his region with a try.
He was also named man-of-the-match at the end of only the third win of the season for the Dragons, by a single point at 13-12.
There were eight points from the boot of full-back Cai Evans to complete the scoring for the home side.
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It was the Dragons’ second home Welsh derby win this season having also beaten Ospreys and the win lifted them off the bottom of the table, while for Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel it was a ninth defeat in 11 games to date this season.
Evans opened the scoring with a penalty before missing with a long-range effort. Then the Scarlets imposed themselves on the game with their first meaningful attack.
Costelow’s impressive 50/22 kick set up an attacking line-out and he linked up with Lloyd to create the opportunity for wing Rogers to crash over. Costelow added the conversion.
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The home side regrouped and Wainwright burrowed his way over, with Evans converting to give Dragons a 10-7 half-time lead. Evans extended that advantage early in the second half with a second penalty.
Lloyd then glided over from a well-worked move orchestrated by Costelow, but the Scarlets outside half missed the conversion.
Vaea Fifita thought he had put Scarlets back in front with a try, but it was ruled out by the referee and TMO.
Then the Dragons conceded what looked like a simple penalty close to the posts with seven minutes to go, but somehow Costelow pushed his kick wide.
There was a frantic finish in front of a raucous 7,000 crowd which ended with the home faithful singing in the rain.
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