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It was Dragons vs Dragons at Eugene Cross Park in Ebbw Vale on Monday evening as the Welsh regional side played host to Hong Kong in a warm-up match for the latter’s World Cup Qualifying campaign. The full-time score was 28-24, the home side taking the result by virtue of Evan Lloyd landing all his conversions as both teams touched down on four occasions.
The result in itself is of little importance for Hong Kong. They led 19-12 at the break but did not play their first choice side, instead opting to give opportunities to a number of fringe candidates. The Dragons also mixed and matched with a handful of first team players supporting senior academy members.
Hong Kong had the better of the tight exchanges through to the break as the forwards gutted out the collisions in near-zero temperature. Reinforcements helped the Dragons in the second half though the contest was closer to a scrimmage as open substitutes were allowed.
The next match for Hong Kong will be against invitational side Crawshays on Friday at The Gnoll in Neath, some 30 miles to the west. With only one match left the lineup should be closer to full strength.
SCORING
DRAGONS 28
Tries – T. Hoppe, R. Bevington, B. Fry, D. Babos
Cons – E. Lloyd 4/4
Pens – E. Lloyd 0/1
HONG KONG 24
Tries – M. Parfitt, L. Slatem, T. Fenn, C. Stone
Cons – B. Rimene 2/3, J. Hood 0/1
TEAMS
DRAGONS ‘A’
1 Josh Reynolds, 2 Will Griffiths, 3 Chris Coleman, 4 James Thomas, 5 Ligtoring Landman, 6 Ben Fry, 7 Lennon Greggains (capt.), 8 James Benjamin, 9 Rhodri Davies, 10 Evan Lloyd, 11 George Gasson, 12 Connor Edwards, 13 Tom Hoppe, 14 Joe Goodchild, 15 Carwyn Penny
Replacements: 16 Rhys Lawrence, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Dan Suter, 19 Joe Davies, 20 Rob Brookson, 21 Dan Babos, 22 Jack Dixon, 23 Llew Smith
HONG KONG
1 Ben Higgins, 2 Ben Roberts (capt.), 3 Dylan Rogers, 4 Craig Lodge, 5 Fin Field, 6 Michael Parfitt, 7 Toby Fenn, 8 Kane Boucaut, 9 Liam Slatem, 10 Ben Rimene, 11 Max Denmark, 12 Max Woodward, 13 Lewis Warner, 14 Jamie Lauder, 15 Jamie Hood
Replacements: 16 Alex Post, 17 Callum McFeat-Smith, 18 Jack Parfitt, 19 Jack Delaforce, 20 James Cunningham, 21 Thomas Lamboley, 22 Tyler Spitz, 23 Casey Stone
