REIGNING Aviva Premiership champions Exeter Chiefs inflicted another heavy pre-season defeat on the Dragons at Sandy Park, but the visitors showed a marked improvement from the previous weekend’s beatings by Montpellier and Northampton Saints.

Dragons head coach Bernard Jackman revealed after the match in Devon that gastroenteritis had spread through his squad like wildfire this week, affecting no fewer than 14 players, some of who didn’t make the trip south.

And while they shipped eight tries and 50 points to Rob Baxter’s Chiefs, the Rodney Parade side still managed to cross for four of their own.

Probably the last thing Jackman would have been expecting was for his team to concede a penalty try in the seventh minute.

But that is what happened as the Chiefs pack asserted their authority from the off, with the visitors penalised several times at a scrum five before referee Anthony Woodthorpe awarded the score.

Given the way the Dragons finished at Northampton a week previously, the fans who had travelled from Gwent may have feared the worst.

However, the Dragons didn’t panic and hit back almost immediately when Hallam Amos made a telling midfield break, offloaded to Adam Warren and the centre did the rest. Angus O’Brien converted.

On trial with the Rodney Parade region, prop Dan Suter was hoping to impress Jackman and his coaching staff, but his afternoon came to an end through injury after just 16 minutes.

Meanwhile, Amos was enjoying his second run-out since coming back from a long-term injury but he was grateful when opposite number Olly Woodburn knocked on following a missed tackle by the Wales speedster.

Not long after, Woodburn did get on the scoresheet when he was on the end of some slick handling by the Exeter backs. Henry Slade added the extras.

Again, the Dragons responded in kind, but they should have scored their second try before Warren gathered a chip over the top to level the game up.

Zane Kirchner had earlier sold the Exeter backline a dummy and had men to his left and right but ran straight into the last defender.

The end-to-end action continued and the Chiefs regained the lead through a try for full-back Max Bodilly, Slade converting, while the Dragons were guilty of falling off tackles that should have been made.

That was a key feature of a late first-half charge by wing James Short, who slipped at least three Dragons tackles before giving away a penalty for holding on.

It looked like the Chiefs were going to register a fourth try going into the interval but the Dragons should have been level at the break.

Kirchner intercepted a long pass deep in his own half, O’Brien, Amos and Jack Dixon took the ball on and Adam Hughes seemed set for a comfortable run in but Warren’s final pass was ruled forward.

Elliot Dee, Jared Rosser and Connor Edwards all came on for the start of the second half and the first of those played a part in the Dragons’ third try.

However, it was the Chiefs, through number eight Sam Simmonds, who stretched out to 28-14 just after the restart, then Dee fed Hughes to close the deficit at the other end.

Dorian Jones, Sarel Pretorius, James Benjamin and Luke Garrett were all introduced by Jackman in one fell swoop with half an hour to go, and moments later the second of those made it 28-24.

A high ball from Jones caused confusion in the Exeter defence, Kirchner disrupted the Chiefs and Pretorius pounced.

But just as the Dragons seemed as though they could go in front for the first time in the game, Exeter replacements Gareth Steenson and Thomas Waldrom crossed to give the hosts a 40-24 advantage.

Meyer was another injury victim for Jackman’s men, though his problem wasn’t as easy to diagnose as Suter’s.

And there was another blow for the Dragons in the closing stages when Nic Cudd was sin binned, and a stretched defence couldn’t prevent Short touching down in the corner for Exeter’s seventh try.

The eighth came off the last play of the game, Italian centre Michele Campagnaro brushing of some tired tackling to see the Chiefs hit 50.

Exeter: M Bodilly; O Woodburn, M Campagnaro, I Whitten, J Short; H Slade, N White; B Moon, J Yeandle (capt), H Williams, D Dennis, J Hill, S Skinner, D Armand, S Simmonds.

Reps: S Malton, B Keast, T Francis, W van der Sluys, T Waldrom, J Maunder, G Steenson, H Cully.

Dragons: Z Kirchner; A Hughes, A Warren, J Dixon, H Amos; A O’Brien, C Davies; B Harris, G Ellis, D Suter, M Screech, R Landman, J Thomas, N Cudd, R Blake.

Reps: L Garrett, E Dee, L Brown, M Williams, J Benjamin, S Pretorius, D Jones, C Meyer, C Edwards, J Rosser, W Talbot-Davies, R Buckley, D Rubasniak.