Glasgow snatch Dragons draw

Glasgow Warriors' winless record in the Magners League continued as they scraped a last-gasp draw with Newport Gwent Dragons.

It could have been worse for the Scottish side had Duncan Weir not managed to convert Alastair Muldowney's last minute try to rescue a 16-16 stalemate at Fir Hill.

Glasgow have yet to win in the league this year and remain 11th in the table after extending their run to five matches without victory, but they did at least regain some pride after the loss at Connacht last weekend.

Their Welsh visitors, meanwhile, were denied the chance to seriously close the gap on sixth-placed Ulster despite a try from second-row Andrew Coombs, converted by Jason Tovey - who also added a penalty - and two penalties from Mathew Jones.

Punished

The Dragons took an early lead after the game's first period of real meaningful pressure.

Despite the fact that the majority of the attacking movement was lateral, the visitors' persistence paid off as the home defence coughed up a penalty 15 metres from the line and fly-half Mathew Jones stroked over the kick.

Weir had an early opportunity to cancel the deficit, but his penalty effort from the halfway line was pushed wide.

Minutes later, Glasgow were punished for the young fly-half's profligacy when Jones converted a penalty effort from the 40-metre mark to stretch his side's advantage.

The Dragons almost added to their lead moments later, when slick handling in midfield allowed full-back William Harries to dart towards the corner. However, a last-ditch covering tackle from home winger Hefin O'Hare averted the danger.

James Eddie, along with fellow back-row forwards Ryan Wilson and Callum Forrester, were proving a handful around the fringes. It was their interplay which resulted in Weir having another penalty opportunity - but again he pushed his effort wide of the uprights.

A further opportunity was squandered 10 minutes before half-time, Weir skewing his penalty attempt horribly wide from an admittedly testing position tight to the touchline.

Deserved

It did not take long for him to make amends after the restart, however, as he punished the Dragons for an infringement at the scrum with a successful penalty, before adding another three-pointer on the 55-minute mark to level the scores after good forward pressure.

But the visitors then found another gear. First, winger Adam Hughes engineered a one-on-one, chipping over the towering Canadian flyer DTH Van der Merve, only to fail to gather the ball as it bobbled across the rough Fir Hill surface with the try-line at his mercy.

The score was delayed only briefly, and when Henry Pyrgos had a box kick yards from his own line charged down, the Dragons grabbed back the lead, with Andrew Coombs flopping over the ball to touch down. Replacement fly-half Tovey added the straightforward extras.

A third successful Weir penalty kept the hosts within touching distance, but Tovey's penalty minutes from the end appeared enough to secure his side victory.

In the dying moments, though, referee Peter Fitzgibbon reduced the Dragons to 14 men, with replacement prop Benjamin Castle sent to the sin-bin for a cynical foul at the breakdown.

The resulting play led to Weir bundling over the visitors' try-line, only to be held up. However, from the ensuing scrum, second row Muldowney powered over beneath the posts.

It was then left to Weir to add the conversion to hand the hosts a deserved draw.