Newport Gwent Dragons romped to a vital Celtic League victory when they sent bottom team Connacht packing at Rodney Parade last night, achieving a bonus point into the bargain.
The Dragons stretched away in the closing stages after dominating for long periods, denying the Irish team a losing bonus point as well.
The Dragons should have won more convincingly for they were in charge for much of the game, especially in the scrums.
But a combination of dogged Connacht defence, Craig Warlow missing four kicks at goal and handling errors prevented a more convincing margin of victory.
The Dragons still ensured they keep ahead of the Ospreys in the race for a Heineken Cup place next season and they now trail the Cardiff Blues by just one point.
The Dragons immediately went on the offensive and when Gareth Cooper kicked over the top former Newport wing Matt Mostyn, leading Connacht from full back, was instantly caught and dumped.
Michael Owen was quickly prominent, winning ball at the front of a line-out and twice taking the ball up, but when the Dragons were penalised for crossing Connacht outside half David Slemen, son of former England wing Mike Slemen, sent the Dragons back into their own 22.
Bryant tackled lock Christian Short heavily, but the Dragons were caught offside in midfield in front of their own posts and Slemen had no trouble with the kick to put Connacht ahead after seven minutes.
Craig Warlow missed a chance to put the Dragons level when he missed a wide angled penalty shot, but he quickly made amends by sparking the move which led to the first try.
He sent out a long pass which missed out a defender and went straight to Hal Luscombe, who put supporting Sione Tuipulotu away and the full back transferred to Gareth Chapman who slipped his opposite number and dashed over for his third try of the season.
Warlow couldn't convert from the touchline and within minutes Slemen restored the lead with his second penalty when Dragons captain Jason Forster was harshly penalised for not releasing.
But the Dragons continued to play impressively and Cooper and Rhys Thomas ran well before Peter Sidoli took it up and Owen almost made it to the line, electing to pass when he could have made it himself and the ball was dropped.
But they persisted and the pack made a complete mess of a Connacht scrum, getting the put-in and then they pushed the visiting eight back over their own line at a rate of knots for Owen to score a pushover try to regain the lead.
But again it was shortlived. Tuipulotu made a complete hash of trying to catch the ball and Slemen had the easy task of strolling over for a try which he also converted for a 13-10 advantage.
But the Dragons recaptured the lead again. Instead of going for goal after Mostyn high tackled Luscombe in front of his own posts they opted for a scrum.
Three times they heaved Connacht backwards only to be illegally held up. The referee's patience finally ran out and he awarded a penalty try which Warlow converted with his first successful kick.
But yet again Connacht typically fought back and when the Dragons were caught offside in front of their own posts Slemen put the kick over to leave the Dragons clinging to a 17-16 lead at half-time.
Connacht changed two of their front row during the interval, but it made no difference and the new front row were penalised for lowering the first scrum of the second period and Warlow slotted the kick.
But once more Connacht narrowed the gap to a point when McPhillips was late tackled and Paul Warwick, who had replaced Slemen, landed the penalty.
Jamie Ringer replaced Andrew Hall for the Dragons who needed to step up the pace, but again Warlow couldn't find the target when a kickable penalty struck an upright, and then he put a kick straight out on the full.
Yet more Connacht scrum infringements resulted in loose head prop McFarland being yellow carded, but the Dragonss continued to make hard work of it, Bryant dropping the ball as they went for their fourth try and a bonus point.
Boos broke out as one Connacht player after another went down, the crowd seeing it as delaying tactics.
Another penalty followed and though in front Warlow kicked for touch, a decision which was rewarded when Owen won the line-out and the pack drove it for Forster to nail the touchdown and that bonus. Warlow finally found his touch and converted.
Steve Jones wasc denied a try by a forward pass as the Dragons finished in complete control.
Newport Gwent Dragons: S Tuipulotu, G Chapman, H Luscombe, J Bryant, B Breeze, C Warlow, G Cooper, A Black, S Jones, R Thomas, I Gough (B Griffiths 79), P Sidoli, A Hall (J Ringer 59) M Owen, J Forster (captain). Scorers -- tries: G Chapman, M Owen , J Forster, penalty try; conversions: C Warlow (2); penalties: Warlow ; dropped goals: . Connacht: M Mostyn (captain), J Hearty (M McHugh 40), A Mailei, K Matthews, C McPhillips, D Slemen (P Warwick 55), C Keane, D McFarland, J Merrigan (J Fogarty 40), A Clarke (S Knoop 40), C Short, D Gannon (A Gallagher 40), M Swift (B O'Connor 65), C Rigney, M Lacey. Scorers-- tries: D Slemen ; conversions: Slemen ; penalties: Slemen (3) ; dropped goals: Referee: M I Heard (Scotland). Attendance: 4,773.
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