Williams double sets up 26-18 win for Dragons over Zebre

Dragons 26-18 Zebre, Rodney Parade
Scorecard

Jordan Williams scored two tries as Dragons went on to beat Zebre 26-18 in the second round of the Pro14 at Rodney Parade on Friday.

This is first win for Dragons in the season as they are at the third place in Conference A table while Zebre are at the bottom after losing both their games.

Dragons were the first to score the points in the game when a combination of Jamie Roberts and Rhodri Williams sent Jordan over the line in the 11th minute.

The home side doubled their tally 13 minutes later when Roberts crossed over but the conversion was missed once again by Sam Davies for the second time as the Welsh regional side made the scoreline 10-0.

The response from Zebre came back in the 35th minute when Carlo Canna kicked a penalty goal but Dragons' third try came in the 35th minute when Elliot Dee touched down as the scoreline became 15-3.

As the half-time was approaching Zebre suffered a setback when wing Mattia Bellini was yellow-carded when he interfered at a ruck. Nevertheless, the visitors reduced the gap down to five points in the opening half when Federico Mori capitalised on the loose ball to cross the whitewash that Canna improved.

Zebre were the quickest to get off the block in the second half when Canna kicked a three-pointer making the scoreline 15-13 but Jordan went on to score his second in the 49th minute to increase the host's lead to seven points.

Sam Davies' point less game continued until the 65th minute when he kicked back to back penalties to take Dragons' tally to 26 points before Giulio Bisegni scored a consolation try in the 78th minute.

Team line-up:

Dragons starting XV: Jordan Williams; Jonah Holmes, Nick Tompkins, Jamie Roberts, Ashton Hewitt; Sam Davies, Rhodri Williams (c); Brok Harris, Elliot Dee, Leon Brown, Joe Davies, Matthew Screech, Harrison Keddie, Taine Basham, Ross Moriarty.

Reserves: Richard Hibbard, Greg Bateman, Aaron Jarvis, Joe Maksymiw, Ben Fry, Tavis Knoyle, Josh Lewis, Adam Warren.

Zebre starting XV: Jacopo Trulla; Junior Laloifi, Giulio Bisegni (c), Federico Mori, Mattia Bellini; Carlo Canna, Guglielmo Palazzani; Daniele Rimpelli, Marco Manfredi, Eduardo Bello, Leonard Krumov, Ian Nagle, Maxime Mbandà, Johan Meyer, David Sisi.

Reserves: Massimo Ceciliani, Danilo Fischetti, Giosue Zilocchi, Cristian Stoian, Mick Kearney, Nicolò Casilio, Antonio Rizzi, Lorenzo Masselli.