AFTER a week dominated by talk of absence through illness, Newport Gwent Dragons’ Guinness Pro12 travel sickness continues.

The trip from Rodney Parade to BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park is the shortest that the Dragons can make but it went the same way as their previous nine away league fixtures this term.

Cardiff Blues kept their Champions Cup qualification hopes alive with a three-try victory that moves them a point behind both sixth-placed Edinburgh and seventh-placed Munster.

Defeat, meanwhile, leaves the 10th-placed Dragons needing to win against Zebre in Parma on final weekend to avoid a whitewash of 11 away losses.

Thankfully they have fared slightly better on their travels in Europe with successes in Pau and Gloucester, meaning that they won’t head to Montpellier for Saturday’s Challenge Cup semi-final completely bereft of hope. In fact, the underdog tag is one that suits them well and they may just enjoy being written off.

Head coach Kingsley Jones – at the helm because director of rugby Lyn Jones is said to still be his sick bed amid speculation about his future at Rodney Parade, a return to London Welsh the latest suggestion – opted to go with the same XV that upset the odds at Kingsholm in the capital.

It was a calculated risk given they face a six-day turnaround to their fixture in the south of France. One that will be under the microscope after Wales centre Tyler Morgan failed to return for the second half.

Maintaining momentum with at the very least a strong performance was the aim and on that front there were enough flashes to suggest they can cause Montpellier, who strengthened their Top 14 title tilt with a victory against Stade Francais in Paris hours earlier, a few problems.

However, they will need to be more clinical as wastefulness inside enemy territory once again derailed another league encounter. Scrum problems also give Kingsley a head-scratcher – does he stick with the excellent Nick Crosswell in the second row or does he have to bolster the pack with a specialist lock for meaty Montpellier?

South Wales Argus:

The Dragons stunned the Blues in the capital on Boxing Day 2014 thanks to a superb start that build a lead that they just clung onto.

This time they were the ones left trying to play catch-up after pressure inside the 22 led to a try by number eight Josh Turnbull, who exploited a rare Taulupe Faletau missed tackle. Fly-half Gareth Anscombe missed the conversion but added a penalty for an 8-0 lead after 13 minutes.

The Dragons then botched a golden opportunity to cut into the gap when Wales wing Hallam Amos had a shocker just moments after a glorious moment; is failure to pass the ball when there was a three-on-one down the left 10 metres out was as awful as his claim of an up and under was majestic.

The visitors had to settle for a penalty by Dorian Jones before yet another trip into the 22, this time after a searing break by Sarel Pretorius, went without reward.

Their profligacy contrasted with the Champions Cup hopefuls, who promptly emerged from another attack with another Anscombe three-pointer.

ANOTHER chance went begging when Amos couldn’t quite conjure an offload after a magnificent break but it did set up position for the Dragons to strike through their driving lineout.

In Gloucester it was Charlie Davies who went over and in Cardiff it was the starting scrum-half Pretorius that profited from the donkey work of the pack.

The conversion was wide at it was 11-8 to the hosts approaching half-time despite the Dragons arguably shading things.

Yet things to a dramatic swing to Cardiff before the teams headed to the sheds with first Faletau forced off with a Rocky-like swollen eye socket and then Pretorius harshly yellow-carded by Irish official Peter Fitzgibbon for a deliberate knock-on after going for the intercept one-handed.

The Blues made then pay by going to the corner and then, playing with penalty advantage after the drive was illegally stopped, Anscombe chipped over the top left-footed for centre Ray Lee-Lo to beat Rynard Landman to the ball.

The simple conversion was added by the Wales international and at 18-8 the Dragons were up against it.

Faletau returned for the second half but worryingly, with a trip to south France looming, Morgan didn’t.

The Blues stretched 21-8 clear with another Anscombe penalty with half an hour remaining and were approaching a position where they could attack the bonus point.

They were dominating yet the Dragons almost struck from nothing, Pretorius just stopped short after winning the race to Dorian Jones’ kick through from turnover ball.

Suddenly the Dragons were enjoying more territory in the Cardiff sun, knowing that one score would give the Blues a wobble, but they came up against rigid defence.

The game had gone and with five minutes left the hosts went for the corner rather than the posts for three points to rubber stamp the victory.

It nearly paid off only for flanker Ellis Jenkins to lose control of the ball stretching for the corner. Anscombe did eventually score the third try – after a counter-attack from yet another wasted Dragons attack in the 22 – but the Blues had the settle for four points and a derby double over the Dragons.

Jones’ side, meanwhile, can now give their date with Montpellier their total attention.

Cardiff Blues: R Patchell (A Summerhill 55), D Fish (H Millard 77), G Smith, R Lee-Lo, T James, G Anscombe, L Williams (T Williams 40), G Jenkins (captain, B Thyer 72), K Dacey (M Rees 55), T Filise (D Lewis 60), J Hoeata (J Navidi 48), J Down, E Jenkins, S Warburton, J Turnbull. Replacements:

Scorers: tries – J Turnbull, R Lee-Lo, G Anscombe; conversion – G Anscombe (2); penalties – G Anscombe (3)

Newport Gwent Dragons: C Meyer, A Hughes, T Morgan (GR Jones 40), A Warren, H Amos, D Jones, S Pretorius (C Davies 67), P Price (B Stankovich 67), E Dee (R Buckley 67), B Harris (L Fairbrother 67), R Landman (M Screech 61), N Crosswell, L Evans (captain), N Cudd, T Faletau (E Jackson 35-40, 63).

Scorers: try – S Pretorius; penalty – D Jones

Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)

Attendance: 8,203

Argus star man: Sarel Pretorius