Thanks to visit codestin.com
Credit goes to www.bbc.com

Summary

  • Cardiff go top of URC while Dragons' wait for first league win over neighbours since 2014 goes on

  • Dragons have also gone 21 games without a league win

  • Dragons made 10 changes from the side thrashed by Glasgow last weekend but come up short again

  • Taulupe Faletau plays first match of 2025-26 with the watching Steve Tandy set to name Wales squad next Tuesday

  • Alex Mann crosses for game's first try in opening minute but Brodie Coghlan quickly responds for Dragons

  • Faletau scores Cardiff's second try before Dan Thomas crosses in entertaining opening quarter to give visitors 17-7 half-time lead

  • Danny Southworth scores bonus-point try for Cardiff in scrappy second half before Ben Carter crosses for Dragons and Angus O'Brien's late penalty gives hosts a losing bonus point

  1. Goodnightpublished at 21:53 BST 17 October

    FT: Dragons 17-24 Cardiff

    Josh Adams and Taulupe FaletauImage source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

    In the end, it was business as usual when it comes to this derby as Cardiff racked up their 21st successive win in this fixture.

    Cardiff opened the scoring inside a minute and bagged a bonus-point through their pack as Alex Mann, Taulupe Faletau, Dan Thomas and Danny Southworth all crossed.

    Dragons briefly led in the first half through Brodie Coghlan's try but they fell asleep for far too long until Ben Carter's late score made for a lively finish.

    Six tries - all by forwards.

    Cardiff will be top of the table overnight as their impressive start to the season continues.

    As for Dragons... they hardly made former head coach Lyn Jones eat his words after his controversial comments earlier today.

    You can follow all the rest of the URC action on the BBC Sport website and we'll be back with live text coverage of Dragons' derby against Ospreys next Saturday.

    Until then, goodnight.

  2. We got the win and move on - Adamspublished at 21:51 BST 17 October

    FT: Dragons 17-24 Cardiff

    Josh AdamsImage source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

    Josh Adams speaking told S4C: "It's always a close game with the Dragons. It wasn't a fun match to watch at times tonight, but we leave with five points and move on.

    "At the end they threw everything at us. Our strength is with the ball and sometimes we find it hard in defence, but in the end we got the win."

  3. Postpublished at 21:44 BST 17 October

    FT: Dragons 17-24 Cardiff

    Jamie Roberts
    Former Wales international on S4C

    There's so much talent in that Cardiff team and to have boys like Alun Lawrence and Taine Basham on the bench just proves that.

    They do the basics so right, their kicking is strong, their mauls are strong, their scrum is strong.

    The structure is there for Cardiff to do very well this season.

  4. Postpublished at 21:42 BST 17 October

    FT: Dragons 17-24 Cardiff

    Jonathan Davies
    Wales and British & Irish Lions centre on S4C

    The Dragons gave away three silly penalties in the first half that led to three Cardiff tries.

    If they don't give those penalties away it's a very different game.

  5. Postpublished at 21:40 BST 17 October

    FT: Dragons 17-24 Cardiff

    Andrew Coombs
    Former Wales lock on S4C

    What the Dragons need to learn from this tonight is to play like this from the start.

    They look a much better team when they throw everything at the game.

  6. Postpublished at 21:39 BST 17 October

    Dragons 17-24 Cardiff

    Ken Owens
    Former Wales hooker on S4C

    Mann has been strong in defence, competitive in the tackle areas and even got himself a try.

  7. Man of the Match - Alex Mann (Cardiff)published at 21:38 BST 17 October

    FT: Dragons 17-24 Cardiff

    He opened the scoring and was at the heart of a dominant display from the Cardiff pack, which ultimately proved the difference tonight.

    Alex Mann in actionImage source, Huw Evans Picture Agency
  8. Cardiff go toppublished at 21:36 BST 17 October

    FT: Dragons 17-24 Cardiff

    With that victory, Cardiff go top of the United Rugby Championship.

    Three wins from four and 15 points.

    Just to caveat that... Stormers, Munster and Glasgow have yet to play this weekend.

    But still... they're top for now!

  9. Full-time: Dragons 17-24 Cardiffpublished at 21:34 BST 17 October

    Too little too late for Dragons as Cardiff extend their iron grip on this fixture.

    That's 21 league wins in a row for the Blue & Blacks over their local rivals.

    The long wait for Dragons goes on!

  10. Penalty: Dragons 17-24 Cardiffpublished at 78 mins

    O'Brien

    This is an interesting decision. O'Brien hammers over the penalty from distance to bag a losing bonus - and give Dragons a late, late shot at clinching a draw.

    Less than two minutes to go.

  11. Postpublished at 77 mins

    Dragons 14-24 Cardiff

    Andrew Coombs
    Former Wales lock on S4C

    We see this with the Dragons a lot.

    They've not done enough in the early stages of the game and they find themselves needing to do too much by the end of the game.

  12. Postpublished at 76 mins

    Dragons 14-24 Cardiff

    Looks as though Dragons are going to run out of time here.

    They just took too long to wake up in this second half.

  13. Postpublished at 74 mins

    Dragons 14-24 Cardiff

    Angus O'Brien has been the architect of everything good about Dragons tonight.

    He'll enjoy watching that replay back tomorrow - he beat three players and put a Cardiff prop on his backside. Take that!

  14. Postpublished at 74 mins

    Dragons 14-24 Cardiff

    Ken Owens
    Former Wales hooker on S4C

    Good movement from the Dragons in the line. They were very patient moving through the phases.

    It was great work from Ben Carter to creep the ball over the line, but it was close.

    Dragons need another score quickly if they want anything out of this game.

  15. Postpublished at 73 mins

    Dragons 14-24 Cardiff

    Hello! O'Brien brings Dragons all the way up field and suddenly Rodney Parade has come back to life.

    One more converted try would make this VERY interesting.

  16. try

    Converted try: Dragons 14-24 Cardiffpublished at 71 mins

    Carter try, De Beer con

    At last, Dragons get something going and the big lock forces his way over close to the posts.

    Wainwright and Couglan combined to make ground down the right before the forwards brought play in field from where Carter barged his way over - just.

  17. Replacementspublished at 70 mins

    Dragons 7-24 Cardiff

    Both teams empty their bench for the final 10 minutes, including Taine Basham coming on to face his former team for the first time.

    It's like an old boys' club out there with the number of players facing their old team!

  18. Postpublished at 69 mins

    Dragons 7-24 Cardiff

    Bosh! Tinus de Beer may have missed a couple of kicks but he does not miss that tackle.

    He lines up Jacob Beetham out wide, floors the centre and then clamps his hands on the ball to win the penalty.

    That's given the Rodney Parade faithful something to cheer this half.

  19. Postpublished at 68 mins

    Dragons 7-24 Cardiff

    Tom Bowen takes a heavy challenge and looks in trouble.

    He's still on the ground in genuine pain.

    Ah, he's back on his feet. Think he just had the wind completely knocked out of him. That does hurt!

  20. Postpublished at 67 mins

    Dragons 7-24 Cardiff

    Dragons have faded badly since half-time.

    Considering it's a derby, they're missing a spark.