Jet-heeled winger Tonderai Chavhanga helped Newport Gwent Dragons to a 29-15 victory over Edinburgh with two first-half tries in their RaboDirect PRO12 clash. The South African, who is set to sign a contract extension beyond this season at Rodney Parade, burst out of the traps with two tries in the opening 16 minutes to all but end the contest at Murrayfield. Darren Edwards’ side, who beat their Scottish opponents in the corresponding RaboDirect PRO12 fixture last month 21-10, made it a satisfying double with some expert kicking from fly-half Steffan Jones – who added 13 points in total. With minds perhaps on the upcoming Heineken Cup quarter-final against Toulouse on Easter Saturday, the best Edinburgh could offer was five penalties from the boot of Harry Leonard – who could not stop the Gunners slipping to their seventh consecutive RaboDirect PRO12 loss. Dragons, who have now won four of their last game league games, made a scrappy start and allowed Leonard to give Edinburgh an early lead when he slotted over a clean penalty after an offside on the 22. But the Dragons responded well, in particular Chavhanga who latched on to a well-placed Jones kick to go over in the corner on nine minutes. Jones converted the extras. More indiscipline from the Dragons resulted in another Leonard penalty to narrow the deficit to one point before Jones responded with his own long-range kick. If Chavhanga’s first try was a warning, the Scottish side didn’t take note as the South African helped himself to his second try on 16 minutes after another clever kick – this time from centre Ashley Smith – with Jones adding another two points from the conversion. Leonard was continuing to keep the Gunners in touch, with two further penalties sandwiched in between Dragons flanker Darren Waters’ yellow card. Michael Bradley’s side failed to take advantage however, and indeed went further behind when Jones added a further two penalties before half time for a 23-12 lead. Edinburgh’s enterprise in the opening stages of the second period was rewarded, inevitably, by the boot of Leonard who grabbed another penalty on 52 minutes but they failed to break the Welsh region’s defensive line. And they were made to pay when replacement Lewis Robling kicked a penalty with 13 minutes remaining before Edinburgh were again penalised, this time for coming over the top of the ruck, which the fly-half duly slotted home for a 14-point advantage. Phil Price was then sinbinned for Dragons but it made little difference, as they did the double over their Scottish hosts.
