NEWPORT Gwent Dragons successfully avoided the ignominy of being London Welsh's first scalp of the season but Leinster will hardly be quaking in their boots.

There was relief rather than delight at the final whistle after a second-half charge secured a 17-13 LV= Cup victory at Rodney Parade.

There was plenty to ponder after an underwhelming display against the Exiles and it can't just be brushed off as being down to the kids being fielded in the Anglo-Welsh development competition as it was pretty much the strongest side available to director of rugby Lyn Jones.

They had plenty of experience in their ranks yet served up schoolboy fare, not ideal when up against a man with the physique of a playground bully.

Tongan number eight Opeti Fonua caused the Dragons all manner of problems and their best hope of stopping him seemed to be to hope that he would eventually run out of steam. That didn't happen until approaching the hour and it's no coincidence that the Dragons wrestled control with a stripped-back approach with replacement half-backs Richie Rees and Jason Tovey pulling the strings.

It was a dead rubber in the LV= Cup but the Dragons certainly shouldn't have lacked motivation.

Not only did they want to build up a head of steam ahead of a trip to Dublin to face the Guinness Pro12 champions but they needed to make sure they didn't come a cropper against the winless Exiles.

Welsh had lost all 22 games this season so it would have taken some living down had Lyn Jones' current side gone down to his old one.

Their victory will earn little recognition but defeat would have run the risk of being featured on the 'And finally...' sections of the evening news bulletins.

Development was put on the back burner with the Dragons selecting the strongest tight five available while they also owed their fans after suffering home disappointments against the Ospreys, Glasgow, Newcastle, Munster, Cardiff Blues and Exeter.

Which made the error-strewn performance all the more disappointing.

They way that they were harassed into mistakes by the worst side in Europe's three frontline leagues and failed to stress a defence that had shipped 114 tries in their 22 defeats was deeply worrying.

The half-back pairing of Luc Jones and Angus O'Brien showed their inexperience while the forwards failed to make the hard yards when they did manage to keep hold of the ball.

The Dragons produced a first-half display to match the turgid fare served up by Wales against England on Friday evening.

They improved after the break to take the spoils but it still wasn't enough to require party-poppers on the Hazell Terrace.

The Exiles had an 8-9 axis of Fonua and ex-All Black Piri Weepu that would thrive on a Man versus Food challenge and they were certainly full of beans in a lively opening by the visitors.

The Tongan, who is heading for Leicester next season, led the charge with some typically brutal charges and Welsh were more than good value for a 3-0 lead earned by the right boot of fly-half Tristan Roberts.

The Dragons levelled through full-back Tom Prydie but they could have no complaints about the 10-3 scoreline when the visitors' wing Nick Scott exploited some shocking defence to breeze through untouched in the 18th minute.

The hosts were coughing up possession with alarming regularity and were struggling to put down Welsh's power runners but they got a chance to put the squeeze on when former Scarlets centre Nic Reynolds was yellow-carded for an illegal tackle.

Yet it was the Aviva Premiership side that enjoyed the better of the 10-minute spell and came the closest to scoring when that man Fonua barged within a couple of metres of the line only for there to be a knock-on from the very next phase.

Nonetheless, the 14 fired-up men won the spell against the 15 that were misfiring thanks to another Roberts penalty that earned a 13-3 lead at the break.

The Dragons were lucky to still be in touch and they nearly responded perfectly to a half-time rollocking only for flanker Lewis Evans to fail to find centre Pat Leach with the line at his mercy after a lucky bounce had put them on the attack inside the 22.

But the hosts soon reverted back to their first-half and it was only approaching the final quarter that they finally found their stride.

First replacement scrum-half Richie Rees darted over after the forwards had powered close to the line, Prydie converting to make it 13-10, and then Roberts was sent to the sin bin for lying on the wrong side of a ruck as Welsh felt the heat.

And the Dragons were in front with 15 minutes left when, after an impressive charge to within yards of the line by replacement flanker Scott Matthews, Prydie cantered over down the right and then superbly added the extras to make it 17-13.

Hopes of a nerve-free finale were dashed when replacement lock Ian Gough was yellow-carded for a high tackle but the Dragons held firm to sneak the spoils.

Dragons: T Prydie, M Pewtner, P Leach (J Dixon 70), A Smith, A Hewitt, A O'Brien (J Tovey 40), L Jones (R Rees 53), O Evans (D Way 62), R Thomas (R Buckley 68), B Harris (B Stankovich 75), A Coombs, R Landman (captain), L Evans (I Gough 53), J Benjamin (S Matthews 60), N Crosswell.

Scorers: tries – R Rees, T Prydie; conversions – T Prydie (2); penalty – T Prydie

Yellow card: I Gough

London Welsh: W Robinson, E Kear, N Reynolds, S Jewell (captain), N Scott (J Tincknell 53), T Roberts (O Barkley 68), P Weepu (A Davies 53), N Trevett (E Aholelei 58), N Morris (R Elloway 78), T Vea (J Gilding 66), B West (M Corker 66), J Down, P Browne (J Liston 72), R Thorpe (J Liston 48-55), O Fonua.

Scorers: try – N Scott; conversion – T Roberts ; penalties – T Roberts (2)

Yellow card: N Reynolds, T Roberts

Referee: Darren Gamage (England)

Attendance: 4,340

Argus star man: Opeti Fonua