THE Dragons stayed in the fight longer than they did last season in Ireland yet the scoreboard had a familiar look in their Guinness PRO14 clash with Leinster.

The Rodney Parade region were comprehensively beaten 52-10 by the seven-try champions yet that doesn’t tell the whole story.

The Dragons did actually make a fist of it and you could arguably say it was their most encouraging display of the season, that they just came up against a club behemoth.

Of greater concern for head coach Bernard Jackman was a second-half injury to Wales speedster Hallam Amos, who was carted from the field after being given oxygen. The winger appeared to injure his elbow making a tackle.

That marred a plucky performance, despite a heavy defeat.

Last season Leinster had their bonus point in the bag after just half an hour, this time it took a harsh yellow card for Ross Moriarty on the stroke of the break to allow them to stretch clear.

The Irish province were comfortable throughout and never looked likely to suffer an embarrassing defeat yet Bernard Jackman’s side defended tenaciously and didn’t allow heads to drop against quality opposition.

The Dragons produced a horror performance in defeat to Benetton in Newport on opening weekend and spluttered to a home victory against the Kings in round two.

Now they must pick themselves up for another must-win encounter with Zebre in Newport on Saturday.

Predictably the Dragons’ losing streak in the PRO14 was extended to 34 games since their March, 2015 triumph in Treviso.

Dublin was never likely to be the destination for the end of the hoodoo; a trip to the RDS is always a big test but the T was almost capitalised when Leinster named their team at midday on Friday.

The Irish province fielded a star-studded side led by Lions ace Jonathan Sexton and featuring the likes of Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, the Kearneys, James Ryan, Scott Fardy and Josh van der Flier.

The morning results from the southern hemisphere – South Africa stunning New Zealand in Wellington and Argentina upsetting Australia on the Gold Coast – had some wags suggesting that the Dragons could turn the champions over.

The bookies gave them no chance and as usual they were spot-on.

Leinster were on the front foot from the off with Sexton pulling the strings marvellously.

They stretched the Dragons, making them rack up the tackles and it was only a neck roll on Nic Cudd in the 22 that saved them, the TMO chalking off a try by Ringrose after four minutes.

Sexton was showing no signs of rustiness, bring his runners into play and displaying array of attacking kicks.

And he was soon busy with the boot from the tee when converting a try by hooker Sean Cronin, who went racing over in the 11th minute after evading prop Brok Harris from a neat inside ball by scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park at a ruck on the 22.

Leinster looked dangerous whenever they were on the attack but the Dragons were kept alive by the odd error (and a little overambition?), the score staying at 7-0 entering the second quarter.

That was causing a few murmurs from the expectant home crowd; the champs looked comfortable and threatening yet they hadn’t pulled away on the scoreboard.

A sign of the Dragons earning the Leinster respect came on the half hour when a penalty was sent between the sticks by Sexton for a 10-0 lead rather than to the corner for an attempted second try.

The back row of Aaron Wainwright, Nic Cudd and Ross Moriarty was getting through an incredible amount of work but the visitors needed some possession to earn a breather.

And they got that with a sustained attack that saw Cudd, centres Adam Warren and Jack Dixon go close only for a holding-on penalty to save Leinster on their line after 20-plus phases.

The Dragons needed to get to half-time 10-0 down but there was still time for the hosts to press as the clock went into the red.

They went from their own half into the 22 to earn a penalty and it got worse – the TMO spotted a late hit on Sexton by fellow 2017 Lion Moriarty earlier in the move that saw the number eight rather harshly being sin-binned.

That led to Leinster opting for a scrum and they struck with a well-constructed move, number eight Jack Conan putting flanker van der Flier over.

Cudd possibly over-committed to the Conan charge and the hosts ruthlessly exposed the absence of Moriarty cover for a try that Sexton converted for 17-0.

The 14-man Dragons needed to stay in the fight and made the start to the second half that Jackman would have demanded, earning a breakdown penalty that Josh Lewis slotted for 17-3 via the left upright.

However, Leinster soon struck with lock Ryan managing to offload after a strong run to give Gibson-Park a run-in. Sexton converted for 24-3.

The bonus was in the bag with 48 minutes on the clock when the scrum-half made the most of sloppy ruck defence to burst through and put in a delightfully-weighted kick for wing Jordan Larmour to gather down the right. Sexton stuck the boot in with a fine conversion for 31-3.

A fifth was close when replacement scrum-half Tavis Knoyle was charged down by lock Scott Fardy but got back to boot the ball dead when the Aussie was preparing to gather for a try.

However, the seven-pointer soon came when the big men hammered at the line and Gibson-Park darted over.

Try number six swiftly came with the home crowd applauding a superb sole score – by a Dragon.

Full-back Jordan Williams made the Leinster defence go dizzy with a wonderful break from halfway for a stunning try that Arwel Robson converted.

Back came Leinster with a try for Tadhg Furlong from close range but, more importantly, Amos was downed in the build-up after seeming to injure his elbow in a tackle.

The Irishmen kept their foot down and it was 52-10 with four minutes left when Fardy went over after a penalty was kicked to the corner, Noel Reid converting.

Thankfully that was the end of the scoring.

Leinster: R Kearney, J Larmour, G Ringrose, R Henshaw (J Tomane 64), D Kearney, J Sexton (captain, N Reid), J Gibson-Park (H O’Sullivan 67), E Byrne (P Dooley 52), S Cronin (B Byrne 52), A Porter (T Furlong 52), S Fardy, J Ryan (R Molony), M Deegan, J van der Flier, J Conan (C Doris 25-35, 75).
Scorers: tries – S Cronin, J van der Flier, Gibson-Park (2), J Larmour, T Furlong; conversions – J Sexton (7), N Reid; penalty – J Sexton

Dragons: J Williams, D Howells, A Warren, J Dixon (J Dixon 58), H Amos, J Lewis (A Robson 58), R Williams (T Knoyle 50), B Harris (R Bevington 40), E Dee (R Hibbard 50), L Fairbrother (B Harris 50, L Brown 72), M Screech (B Nansen 40), C Hill (captain), A Wainwright (O Griffiths 47), N Cudd, R Moriarty. 
Scorers: try – J Williams; conversion – A Robson; penalty – J Lewis

Referee: Quinton Immelman (South Africa)
Argus star man: Nic Cudd