Newport Gwent Dragons 0 Perpignan 25 INJURY hit Newport Gwent Dragons fell to their fifth defeat in six Heineken Cup group games when they were well beaten by Perpignan at Rodney Parade.

The Dragons trailed 10-0 at the interval, then produced their one purple patch in the game, but centre Phil Dollman lost the ball over the French team's line and the Dragons' chance went with it.

Instead France centre David Marty grabbed an interception try when a pass by Michael Owen to fellow back row forward Joe Bearman went astray.

Earlier centre Jean Philippe Grandclaude crossed for a try and in injury time winger Adrien Plante grabbed a third.

Former Dragons star Percy Montgomery had a mixed return to Rodney Parade, kicking two penalties and two conversions, but missed three other attempts and found handling difficult in the wet conditions.

Coach Paul Turner, about to sign a new contract with the Dragons, complained about the second try.

"At 13-0 it was a 14 point swing and I felt one of their forwards was doing something in our back division. I'll want to look at the video," he said.

"I was proud of the boys in the second half, but they showed the depth which you need. This is the big league and you need big squads. It's down to the last man standing here."

The Dragons were without 14 players because of injury and lost two more during the game - skipper Colin Charvis after only 10 minutes with a knee injury and prop Rhys Thomas with a recurrence of his rib injury.