AND then there was one -- Newport Gwent Dragons are the only Welsh team still in with a chance of reaching the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup.

They now march on to Tyneside to meet group leaders Newcastle on Sunday with everything to play for.

They will again have one eye on Perpignan whose game against Edinburgh at Murrayfield at the same time (1pm) could also have a real bearing on who goes through in a dramatic final day of the pool stages.

The Dragons romped to a 48-5 victory over Edinburgh at Rodney Parade on Saturday, earning a bonus point after just 29 minutes, to put themselves right in the mix for the last eight.

The Dragons must win in Newcastle. If they do and Perpignan lose in Scotland the Dragons will be through, as simple as that.

But more realistically the Dragons will have to win with a bonus point and hope Perpignan, expected to beat the group chopping blocks, fail to achieve a bonus point themselves.

For if the Dragons and Perpignan both win with a bonus point the French team will go through as group winners based on a better points average between the two teams.

That would still leave the Dragons with a slight chance of making the quarter-finals as one of the two best runners-up.

Luck was not on their side at the weekend when Perpignan snatched a bonus point in injury time against Newcastle and Llanelli Scarlets were overhauled by Northampton two minutes from the end.

That unfortunate result not only knocked the Scarlets out but hit the Dragons' hopes as well by virtually guaranteeing Northampton the best runners-up spot with a home game against Glasgow to come.

A likely bonus point victory would give the Saints 21 points, one more than the Dragons can achieve.

That would leave the Dragons partly relying on another Welsh team, the talented Neath-Swansea Ospreys, who made vastly experienced Munster battle for victory at their Thomond Park fortress on Saturday, beating Castres at the Gnoll, for the French team can also obtain more points than the Dragons, as can Wasps and Biarritz in Pool One.

But before all those calculations can be made the Dragons must beat Newcastle, and the match has been given added edge by a simmering row between them and Newcastle director of rugby Rob Andrew.

Jamie Ringer, man-of-the-match against Edinburgh, re-ignited the flames when he said: "The attitude Newcastle showed after the game here wasn't great. Rob Andrew said a few things about them coming down and doing a job, then they shot off without having any of our hospitality (the Dragons are hurrying home on Sunday, their flight a few hours after the match).

Andrew actually said at Rodney Parade: "The Dragons are second in the Celtic League, but if you look at the games they have won this season nobody has put them under pressure. We thought if we could put them on the back foot maybe we would see how they would respond to that pressure. We were a bit smarter."

Dragons coach Chris Anderson said: "We were upset, we got beat and it shows what they thought of us. We are all in this together and we don't need that sort of thing."

Andrew today responded to the criticism by saying: "I have a great regard for Welsh rugby and have many good friends in the game from Wales, so I was extremely surprised to see Jamie's comment."

Explaining the Falcons' rapid departure from Rodney Parade, he said it was to attend a function held for the family of Newcastle player Soa Otuvaku who died of a brain tumour.