Newport Gwent Dragons have made a real rod for their own back now after their hugely disappointing home setback in their Heineken Cup opener against a tactically superior Newcastle side on Saturday.

Basically, it means they have to win all five remaining group games if they are to progress to the knock-out stages of the competition, including an unlikely double against a monstrous-looking Perpignan team.

Victory against Edinburgh next Sunday is vital or the Dragons really will be out of it, and then they are going to have to rely on their rivals to stop the bull-like French outfit.

The Dragons looked out of sorts in Saturday's horrendous weather conditions which make sport in this country such a hazardous occupation, and they slumped to only their second defeat at Rodney Parade, the only other being against Leicester back in January.

A dry day and the result would probably have been different, but the Dragons just didn't have a kicking game in the wet and the pack simply lacked the physical presence against one of the less powerful eights in the Zurich Premiership.

It was a big step up from the majority of matches in the Celtic League, and a completely different ball game from their previous game against the Borders which, as it turned out, was the worst kind of preparation the week before a Heineken Cup-tie.

Newcastle director of rugby Rob Andrew was playing mind games then, and he played them again on Saturday, when front-row forwards were going on and off the field like a whirlwind as even the rule book was brought out to decipher the difference between replacing an injured player and a tactical substitution.

It was also mighty suspicious how a Newcastle forward went down whenever the Dragons mounted any sustained pressure.

Be that as it may, Newcastle played the conditions far better than the Dragons. Dave Walder, Jonny Wilkinson's replacement, is known as a runner, but he kicked with real precision and he did it often to peg the Dragons back time and time again.

Dragons counterpart Ceri Sweeney, on the other hand, persisted in opening out, and they were happy to try to play a running game which was completely alien in the conditions.

There was an occasion early on when lovely handling gave Hal Luscombe a hard chance to make it to the corner which he all but accepted, and late on the Dragons mounted fierce pressure, often handling miraculously, in a last- ditch effort to snatch the game out of the flood.

But to the Australians in charge at Rodney Parade who poured such scorn on David Humphreys in Ulster, some of it warranted, the disgraceful weather we have to suffer in the UK means that a kicking game has to exist.

And in rugby league, of course, there is no kicking game to speak of, so the sooner this is realised the better and the sooner, at the risk of being repetitive, Percy Montgomery and his big left boot are brought increasingly into the game, the more the Dragons might benefit. Similarly, size does count in union, and there will have to be a much bigger physical presence in the Dragons pack, otherwise the shaven-headed gentlemen of Perpignan will take them to the cleaners.

Colin Charvis may have his detractors, but his ability and his experience were very much in evidence, for Newcastle's strength in rucks and mauls was telling and their set-piece work often had the Dragons struggling.

Michael Owen pepped up the Dragons on his return after his back scare, but establishing a platform in the conditions was difficult and the pack were unable to establish any supremacy.

Despite a fair bit of niggle, it was still out of character when tempers flared between rival locks Ian Gough and Luke Gross and the pair were both carded, Gough yellow and Gross red after he put the knee in. A post-match disciplinary committee banned Gross for four matches.

That apart, the most notable incident was the defensive howler which gifted Newcastle the only try of the match which was to prove so decisive.

Walder inevitably kicked long to the corner where Luscombe took too much time deciding what to do about it.

He eventually passed to Kevin Morgan, who decided to scuttle acrossfield in front of his own posts, and when he tried to evade one defender too many and finally put boot to ball he had the kick charged down by back-row forward Mike McCarthy, who pounced for the all-important try.

Matt Burke converted to add to an earlier penalty and Sweeney's two penalties were not enough to deny Newcastle a surprise victory, which leaves the Dragons with the proverbial mountain to climb. Newport Gwent Dragons: K Morgan, G Wyatt, P Montgomery, S Tuipulotu, H Luscombe (N Brew 69), C Sweeney, G Cooper (G Baber 80), R Snow (A Black 51), S Jones (J Richards 69), R Thomas (C Anthony 51), I Gough (P Sidoli 79), M Owen, J Ringer, R Bryan (R Beattie 69), J Forster (captain). Scorer -- penalties: C Sweeney (2). Newcastle Falcons: M Burke, T May, J Noon, M Tait, M Stephenson, D Walder, J Grindal (H Charlton 51), I Peel, captain (M Hurter 40, J Isaacson 73), J Isaacson (M Thompson 40), M Ward (I Peel 51), L Gross, S Grimes, M McCarthy (S Setiti 59), P Dowson, C Charvis. Scorers -- try: M McCarthy; conversion: M Burke; penalty: M Burke. Attendance: 8,298.