THE DRAGONS RECORDED their second win of the URC season yesterday as they beat the Ospreys 32-25 at Rodney Parade, with former Munster man JJ Hanrahan kicking two conversions and a penalty.

It was an impressive performance from Dai Flanagan’s side, who saw exciting wing Rio Dyer - who was celebrating his recent Wales call-up – score two tries as ex-Ulster hooker Bradley Roberts and back row Aaron Wainwright also dotted down.

The Ospreys had started strongly and scored tries through George North, Scott Baldwin, and Owen Watkin, but they were second best to the Dragons.

30-year-old Hanrahan, who joined the Dragons from French side Clermont during the summer, was at out-half again and worked well in tandem with fullback Sam Davies, who wore the number 10 shirt for the Welsh region last season.

Flanagan’s men will now hope to follow up their victory with another good result at home against Zebre this weekend before the international break.

On Saturday, Cardiff ended the Stormers’ 15-match unbeaten run in the URC as Wales fly-half contender Rhys Priestland kicked 20 points in a 30-24 victory at the Arms Park. 

Priestland was named player of the match for the way he ran the show against the league champions as he staked a strong case to wear the number 10 jersey in the opening autumn international against New Zealand. 

Switching from fullback, where he had previously lined up this season, the versatile veteran landed seven shots at goal and also set up tries for wings Theo Cabango and Jason Harries with pin-point cross kicks. 

It was a master-class display that won warm plaudits from gracious Stormers head coach John Dobson.

“I thought he was absolutely sublime, just superb,” he said.

“That was right up there in terms of a tactical kicking display from a 10, no question. He was magnificent.” 

Cardiff director of rugby Dai Young echoed Dobson in praising the 35-year-old Priestland, who won the last of his 52 caps against Australia just under 12 months ago.

“I thought he had a great game at 10. It was a real good performance,” said the former Wales and Lions prop.

“He controlled the game really well and showed what a quality operator he is. With his kicking game, he put us out of danger on a lot of occasions and also put pressure on them. He was also really accurate taking the points, which is hugely important. I thought he was excellent.”

As for the DHL Stormers, it was their first defeat in the league since they lost to Connacht out in Galway way back in February. They did have the consolation of picking up two losing bonus points, having scored four tries, three of them through lineout drives. 

But having also been denied victory in last week’s draw with the Ospreys, the title holders will be hungry to return to winning ways when they take on the Emirates Lions in Johannesburg next Saturday.

Elsewhere, Edinburgh claimed their first away win in the URC since March with a 38-19 bonus point victory over Zebre out in Parma.

They ran in six tries in all, with hooker Adam McBurney touching down twice as they built a 31-0 lead.

Zebre Parma played for close on an hour with just 14 men following a red card for flanker MJ Pelser, but showed real fight after the break scoring three tries of their own.

The player of the match award went to Fijian number eight Viliame Mata who marked his 31st birthday and 100th appearance for Edinburgh with a real barnstorming carrying display.

Commenting on the game, his coach Mike Blair said: “It was very stop-start, but we are really pleased to come away with five points.”

Friday night’s action saw the Vodacom Bulls come away 44-22 victors over Benetton out in Treviso, with Jake White’s side getting back to winning ways following their defeats to Glasgow and Munster.

Both games that were due to be played in South Africa over the weekend – Emirates Lions v Glasgow and Cell C Sharks v Ulster – were postponed due to gastroenteritis infections within the visiting camps. The matches will be rescheduled for later dates.