NEWPORT Gwent Dragons’ hopes of chasing down Cardiff Blues for a Heineken Cup spot have quickly turned into a battle for eighth place after a second successive woeful defeat at Rodney Parade.

A first four-try bonus point of the RaboDirect Pro12 campaign was scant consolation as Treviso secured their first win of 2012.

The Dragons shot themselves in the foot – the missed shots at goal and conceded tries from a charge down and interception – but the Italians were worthy winners, just as Connacht had been a fortnight earlier.

It leaves the Rodney Parade region scrambling to avoid a lowly finish with games against the play-off chasing pair of the Ospreys and Leinster.

Prior to kick-off against Connacht there was a bullish mood among the Dragons faithful about the chances of catching seventh-placed Cardiff Blues.

One defeat later and suddenly there was a feeling of trepidation ahead of clash with a woefully out of form Treviso, especially when skipper Luke Charteris pulled out when he failed to pass a pre-match fitness test on a shoulder problem.

The Italians headed into the game on the back of nine losses on the spin with their last victory coming against rivals Aironi on New Year’s Eve.

Nonetheless, Treviso boasted a raft of Italian internationals in their ranks as well as prolific Australian wing Brendan Williams, so a drastic improvement on the Connacht shambles was required.

And that’s exactly what came in a terrific opening for the Dragons that saw them take control thanks to some lovely handling by Dan Lydiate, Ashley Smith and Adam Hughes that put wing Aled Brew over down the left.

The Biarritz-bound speedster had struggled of late and responded to call from the coaching staff to show he is worthy of a place in the side with a powerful display.

His score made it 8-3 to the hosts after kickers Lewis Robling and Kris Burton had traded penalties but the hosts, who had started with ambition and intensity, then undid all of their hard work.

They paid the price for a reluctance to put boot to ball inside their own half and wing Tonderai Chavhanga was turned over for Treviso and Italy flanker Alessandro Zanni to finish off after a fine break by Williams.

That score took the wind out of the Dragons’ sails and they stopped playing with the intensity that had given them the upper hand.

Burton and Robling traded penalties in an increasingly scrappy affair and it remained 11-11 until a late flurry of points in the closing stages of the half.

First Brew intercepted Alberton Sgarbi to go over from halfway with centre Adam Hughes, who had a fine first half, converting from the left.

But just as the Dragons were preparing to digest matters over a half-time tea with a seven-point lead they allowed the Italians to level with the final play.

A series of defensive slips and a hint of blocking allowed Burton to make a break and allow centre Tommaso Iannone to put full-back Luke McLean over with their fly-half impressively converting from the touchline. Just like the first half the Dragons were quickly out of the traps and a penalty was kicked to the corner to try to earn their reward.

But pressure was not converted into points and the game once again became scrappy. The nerves were settled when Toby Faletau finished off in the corner after good work by Lydiate and Smith with Hughes once again adding the extras.

However, the game was back in the balance when Burton charged down Robling and gathered himself to cut the Dragons lead to 25-23 approaching the last quarter.

If anything the Italians looked the more threatening side with the rapid Williams in particular causing all manner of problems with his elusive running.

The play was all in the Dragons’ half and when Lewis Evans was sin-binned with quarter of an hour left the Italians scented blood.

Penalties had been kicked to the corner but they wisely adopted a more pragmatic approach and Burton struck a drop goal to inch them in front 26-25.

Desperate times called for desperate measures and Cardiff Blues-bound fly-half Jason Tovey was called from the bench.

And just minutes after he was narrowly wide with a penalty that would have earned back the lead he threw a pass that was snaffled by centre Sgarbi who raced over.

Burton added routine conversion and Treviso were well on their way to a five-pointer.

There was a scrambled finish when Hughes raced over and converted to make it 33-32 but a pair of bonus points was not what the Dragons wanted or expected from a home clash against an Italian side.

Dragons: W Harries (H Amos 26), T Chavhanga, A Hughes, A Smith (captain), A Brew, L Robling (J Tovey 68), J Bedford (W Evans 50), N Williams (P Price 54), S Parry (S Jones 32), N Buck (D Way 74), S Morgan (A Coombs 47), R Sidoli, D Lydiate, L Evans, T Faletau.

Scorers: tries – A Brew (2), T Faletau, A Hughes; conversions – A Hughes (3); penalties – L Robling (2)

Treviso: L McLean, L Nitoglia, T Iannone (F Semenzato 54), A Sgarbi, B Williams, K Burton, E Gori (T Iannone 66), M Rizzo, F Sbaraglini (D Vidal 49), L Cittadini, A Pavanello (captain, F Minto 67), C Van Zyl, M Filippucci, A Zanni, R Barbieri.

Scorers: tries – A Zanni, L McLean, K Burton, A Sgarbi; conversions – K Burton (2); penalties – K Burton (2); drop goal – K Burton

Referee: James Matthews (Scotland)

Attendance: 5,168

Star man: Adam Hughes – Lively with ball in hand and kicked nicely from the tee. Why did Tovey take over for a long shot at goal?