Newport Gwent Dragons got the monkey off their backs and turned their season around with this Magners League Welsh derby triumph over the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday night.

Never before since the advent of regional rugby had the Dragons got the better of their Welsh rivals away, but they were worthy winners and at the same time they jumped two places in the table above both Glasgow and Connnacht.

It was their first victory against a fellow Welsh region for three years and the first time since early February they won successive matches while they also ended the Ospreys’ 12-match unbeaten home record.

Much had been made of the fact that the Ospreys were without 15 players because of international commitments, but the Dragons had eight backs injured or unavailable as well as flanker Dan Lydiate and they played for most of the second half with scrum half James Leadbeater on the wing and the last ten minutes with prop Hugh Gustafson at flanker.

So no-one should deny the Dragons the merit of this victory which ought to instil into the squad the confidence that had been so damaged by the loss of five games in a row.

That unwanted run might never have occurred had the Dragons been able to field anywhere near their best starting line-up from the off this season, and two individuals in particular showed what they had been missing.

Teenager Toby Faletau, for me bearing a striking resemblance to a young Mervyn Davies, gave an amazing performance considering it was only his second start of the season and just his seventh in all.

Full of energy and drive for such a wiry player, he brushed off tackles, made them as well and was a superb line-out option at the front, looking a real class player overall.

And Jason Tovey was back to something like the form he showed in the second half of last season after missing five games, directing operations, constantly pegging the Ospreys back with his left boot and looking another class act.

And one experiment which did come off was the switch of centre Pat Leach to full back, the North Walian not remotely afraid to go in for the ball and run it back with good effect while loose head prop Phil Price made a major impact with his scrummaging.

Ospreys coach Jonathan Humphreys paid the Dragons due credit. “It was very disappointing, we’ve got a proud home record which we’ve just lost, but take nothing away from the Dragons, we lost against a better side,” he said.

A relieved Dragons coach Paul Turner said, “I felt we controlled the match, it was a limited game plan once the rain came, but Jason Tovey kept the scoreboard ticking over and we can play like that in the dry away. I began to worry that after one win we were expected to win here all of a sudden, but we have beaten a good squad. The Ospreys had nine internationals missing and we had about eight, but we’ve broken their line twice and scored from it, and we’ve muscled up in the right areas. Our scrum was dominant, Phil Price has proved his worth after we took him on trial from here (the Ospreys) and we took our chances.

“It was very important we got something out of it, we played smart rugby, put them under pressure and they made errors. We could have taken a bonus point away from them, but we’ll take what we got.”

The game was often on a knife-edge as the lead changed hands four times, but the Dragons were that bit superior as the two tries to one count proved, the first a super solo effort and the other from excellent interpassing.

After a burst by the consistent Gavin Thomas Faletau took over and stormed away, leaving defenders trailing in his wake then handing off two more as he made the try line which must have seemed remote when he initially got his hands on the ball.

That was after Tovey and Dai Flanagan swopped penalties, but the Ospreys hit back when former Dragons wing Richard Fussell, who did his utmost to impress against his former team, opened up the defence and put full back Gareth Owen over behind the posts for Flanagan to convert.

Tovey and Flanagan again exchanged penalties before the Dragons struck with the decisive score when Tom Riley cut the line with a scything run and the ball was recycled for Tovey, skipper Tom Willis, a 50th minute replacement, Leadbeater and Thomas to handle and then scrum half Wayne Evans sniped away down the blind side for the try.

Another exchange of penalties, this time between Owen and Tovey wrapped up the scoring, but there was no denying the Dragons or the way they responded by coming back out to acknowledge their fans after they had achieved their best win of the season.

Ospreys: G Owen (T Isaacs 75), N Walker, S Parker, A Beck, R Fussell, D Flanagan (B Davies 65), J Nutbrown, R Bevington (D Jones 40), M Davies (R Hibbard 53), C Mitchell (C Griffiths 66), A Lloyd (C McInerny 65), I Evans, T Smith (J Tupuric 70), J Collins (captain), M Holah.

Scorers - try: G Owen; conversion: D Flanagan; penalties: Flanagan (2), Owen.

Newport Gwent Dragons: P Leach, A Hughes, T Riley, A Smith, N Brew (J Leadbeater 47), J Tovey, W Evans, P Price (H Gustafson 41-51), S Jones (T Willis 50), N Hall, L Charteris (captain), R Sidoli (S Morgan 55), A Coombs (R Sowden-Taylor 30), T Faletau, G Thomas (H Gustafson 72).

Scorers - tries: T Faletau, W Evans; conversion: J Tovey; penalties: Tovey (3).

Referee: David Pearson (England).

Attendance: 8,123.

Argus star man: Toby Faletau.