The Dragons and Bristol played out an entertaining pre-season friendly at Rodney Parade
The Dragons were edged out late on by Bristol Bears in an entertaining pre-season friendly at Rodney Parade.
A brace from Harry Randall in the final five minutes added a layer of gloss to scoreline, which read 28-45 at the final whistle.
Dragons coach Dean Ryan will have been happy with the run-out for his players, who led 21-19 at the break. The introduction of Wales international Ioan Lloyd sparked the visitors into life, with Bristol dominating the majority of the second period, with Randall's double sealing the victory with a bit to spare.
Catch up with the game as it happened below.
Dragons: 15. Angus O’Brien, 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Sio Tomkinson, 12 Jack Dixon, 11 Jared Rosser, 10 JJ Hanrahan, 9 Rhodri Williams; 1 Rhodri Jones, 2 Bradley Roberts, 3 Chris Coleman, 4 Huw Taylor, 5 Sean Lonsdale, 6 Harri Keddie (c), 7 Lennon Greggains, 8 Ollie Griffiths
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Rob Evans, 18 Lloyd Fairbrother, 19 George Nott, 20 Ben Moa, 21 Lewis Jones, 22 Will Reed, 23 Max Clark, 24 Jordan Williams, 25 Josh Reynolds, 26 James Benjamin, 27 David Richards
Bristol Bears : 15. Luke Morahan, 14. Jack Bates, 13. Joe Jenkins, 12. James Williams, 11. Rich Lane, 10. Callum Sheedy, 9. Tom Whiteley; 1. Jake Woolmore, 2. Bryan Byrne, 3. Jonathan Benz-Salomon, 4. Morgan Eames, 5. Joe Owen, 6. John Hawkins, 7. Jake Heenan (c), 8. Magnus Bradbury.
Replacements: Jake Kerr, Will Capon, Yann Thomas, George Kloska, Max Lahiff, Ed Holmes, Dan Thomas, Sam Lewis, Harry Randall, Andy Uren, AJ MacGinty, Henry Purdy, Ioan Lloyd.
He gets the ball on the wing in his own half and takes off like a train before kicking through and regathering after a bit of a mix up in defence.
Pat Lam will be so happy with that final phase as Bristol hold out for about 12 phases of attack from the Dragons inside their 22 before Henry Purdy intercepts and shows his pace to 80m.
Yann Thomas is penalised for not rolling away which allows the Dragons some rare second half field position.
The Bears take the lead.
Harry Randall that is brave.
Bristol have a penalty 5m out. They opt to tap and go through Will Capon who takes off like a missle but is stopped just short.
The ball is recyled quickly and Harry Randall snipes down the blindside, bravely diving at the feet of a Dragons defender.
This crowed is really in the game as the two packs flex their muscles.
Bristol try to catch and drive from 10m out but Dragons respond with an impressive counter drive.
Harry Randall, who spent the summer with England on tour to Australia but didn't end up playing, looks slighlty off the pace here.
A blatant forward pass earlier in the game stopped the Bears in their tracks and now a pop pass to a team mate under pressure is knocked on. Poor decision making.
AJ MacGinty lines up a lovely spiral kick that bounces perfectly into touch on the unguarded Rodney Parade pitch and into touch.
Lineout, after a 50m territory gain, to come for Bristol.
Morgan Eames, who has really impressed in the second row for Bristol, takes a heavy head knock against the artificial pitch at Rodney Parade.
There is no illegality but the referee stops play for the medics to come on.
He appears to be okay and we will restart with a scrum for the visitors.
Bristol catch and drive from 5m out and absolutely power their way over at speed.
Hooker Will Capon was the man to touch the ball down.
AJ MacGinty. hits the upright with the conversion. I think.(Roof problems)
Welsh international Ioan Lloyd is on at full back it looks like and he twice comes into the line in the space of 90 minutes to make defence splitting passes.
The final puts Harry Rowson down the wing but he is pushed into touch.
We come back for a penalty advantage after the Dragon go offisde.
The Welsh side have noticably changed up their tactics in the last few mintues with JJ Hanrahan twice kicking in behind the visitors.
The first is well taken by Rio Dyer but he is equally well tackled by Luke Morahan, the second bounces out for a lineout deep in the Bristol 22.
This isn't news really.
The Bears full back just glides over the artifical turf to scoop up what could have been a dangerous kick in behind.
This game is nicely poised with Dragons still looking very dangerous through their wingers espceially.
Moments after knocking the ball on trying to make a break, new Bears fly-half AJ MacGinty makes amends with a brave turnover at a ruck following a powerful carry from the impressive Jared Rosser.
Henry Purdy, who also came on at half time, gets put through the gaps with some lovely hands.
Purdy looks to use his speed to round the final defender but the Dragons man does a good job chopping him down, a pass inside to Luke Morahan may have been the better option.
Young red headed winger Harry Rowson, who was not named in the Bears squad today is in fact now on the pitch.
Winger Jared Rosser makes a brilliant solo run but gets brought down just short. Couple of phases later an inside ball to Bradley Roberts sees the hooker score on his first appearance.
Plenty of changes for the Bears.
AJ MacGinty on at 10 and Harry Randall at nine the most notable.
That was a great half of rugby.
Three tries a piece with the Dragons looking dangerous on the outside thanks to some brilliantly handling from two of their new arrivals in Sio Tomkinson and JJ Hanrahan.
Considering the cast missing the Bears have held their own.
The Bears driving maul is well and truly back, but this time the Dragons get a great counter drive on as the visitors look to attack from a 5m lineout.
Bristol's pack are patient and swin off to get over the line but a blackshirted Welshman gets under the ball to stop the score.
That brings the half time whistle from referee Adam Jones.
The Bears are inches from the try line but Dragons are defending brilliantly.
But after about 10 phases, the ball comes out to the backs and enough defenders have been sucked in to allow Joe Jenkins to step and power over the line.
Dragons come out on the wrong side of some kick tennis as Rhodri Williams, the former Bristol man, gets too much on his spiral kick and it bounces dead.
The Bears will have a scrum deep in the home side's half.
This is an offloading feast.
Dragons are excelling at keeping the ball alive in contact tonight and a couple of offloads breaks the Bristol defence with former Exeter Chiefs man Sean Lonsdale crashing over.
JJ Hanrahan converts from wide left.
The Bears knock on after Bryan Byrne gives Jono Benz Salomon an incredibly difficult pass to handle.
Dragons work the ball wide and look to have an overlap on but Luke Morahan lets the home side come to him and uses the touchline as his friend to tackle into touch.
Sensational handling from Dragons finishes with number eight Ollie Griffiths going over from close range.
Sio Tomkinson, JJ Hanrahan and Angus O'Brien all played key roles in the 60m break to get the pack in range to power over.
Hanrahan's conversion gives the hosts the lead.