DEFEAT to the rivals down the road is never easy to take but last night's defeat at the hands of a weary Cardiff Blues side will be particularly galling for the fans of Newport Gwent Dragons.

In the last clash at Cardiff Arms Park before the Blues become tenants of the Bluebirds in Leckwith, hopes were high that Paul Turner's side could press for the last automatic Heineken Cup place.

For the hosts had a number of top stars nursing wounds on the sidelines and several soldiering on after their 100-minutes battle with Leicester Tigers next door.

The Blues retained full-back Ben Blair, centre Tom Shanklin, wing Tom James, scrum-half Richie Rees, flanker Maama Molitika and propping pair Faufa’ao Filise and Gethin Jenkins from their semi-final choker at the Millennium Stadium.

Yet in a slightly muted atmosphere – and Rodney Parade has the chance to become the home of the raucous Welsh derby next season when all their rivals reside in plush surroundings where plastic seats often outnumber fans – the Dragons failed to get a win that would have catapulted them up to fifth place in the Magners League table, above both the Blues and Scarlets.

And just like last week’s loss to the Ospreys they failed to even get a losing bonus point for their efforts.

It was the hosts who started more sharply and they got their reward through a pair of early Blair penalties, the second of which saw Dragons prop Adam Black yellow-carded.

The Blues were playing at a high tempo with Shanklin, James and France-bound centre Jamie Robinson to the fore.

However, the 14-man Dragons struck next on 15 minutes when former Rodney Parade man Ceri Sweeney cleared poorly straight down the middle to full-back Jason Tovey, who promptly smacked over a 40-yard drop goal.

The visitors struggled to disrupt the Blues giving their backs plenty of quality ball but fortunately their hosts were plagued by errors.

The Dragons had a strong wind behind them in the first half yet they were kept on the back foot and it took a terrific last-ditch tackle by Tovey to prevent Shanklin going over on 27 minutes.

The likes of Joe Bearman and skipper Tom Willis were largely forced into defensive duty rather than carrying hard but they had the chance to level the scores on 31 minutes only for Shaun Connor’s penalty to sail wide.

And they were soon ten points behind just seconds after one of their most promising moments.

Winger Richard Fussell sliced through the Blues defence with a jinking run down the flank but Connor’s pass from the resulting ruck was picked off by Shanklin who raced over from 70 yards.

Blair added the conversion before the Dragons narrowed the gap to 13-6 with a Tovey penalty just before the break.

Turner replaced Connor with Arlidge for the second half and his side started to put the ball through the hands in a bid to counter the stiff breeze.

But the problem facing them was indicated when a powerful Bearman charge to just outside the 22 was turned over by Shanklin and booted all the way down deep into Dragons territory.

However, the Dragons stuck to their guns and tried to up the tempo and keep the weary Blues legs moving.

There were some promising moments but Blair booted another penalty on 55 minutes and only some last-ditch defending by scrum-half Wayne Evans prevented Sweeney applying the killer blow just afterwards from Jamie Robinson’s grubber through.

The Dragons looked much more threatening, with wing Gareth Wyatt making some telling runs, and they were back in bonus point territory with 20 minutes left thanks to an Arlidge penalty.

That potential losing bonus was snatched away straight from the kick-off when referee Nigel Owens penalised them for crossing in front of Fussell and Blair did the simple honours from the tee.

But the Dragons didn’t lose heart and after a searing break from impressive lock Hoani MacDonald was continued by prop Nigel Hall, another good performer, the Blues offended and saw James sin-binned. Arlidge kicked the penalty to put them within a score but the game was gone almost straight away when Robinson picked off a Dan Lydiate offload for the Blues second interception try, killing off the Dragons’ hopes of piling the pressure on their Welsh rivals in the battle to avoid a play-off.

Cardiff Blues: B Blair (N Robinson 74), G Thomas (R Mustoe 23), J Robinson, T Shanklin (G Williams 78), T James, C Sweeney, R Rees (D Allinson 69), G Jenkins (J Yapp 69), R Thomas (G Williams 49), T Filise, D Jones, S Morgan (B Davies 69), M Molitika, R Sowden-Taylor (captain), A Powell (X Rush 60)

Scorers: tries - T Shanklin, J Robinson; conversions - B Blair (2); penalties - Blair (4)

Newport Gwent Dragons: J Tovey, G Wyatt, R Davies (A Brew 74), A Smith, R Fussell, S Connor (J Arlidge 40), W Evans (A Walker 74), A Black (H Gustafson 65), T Willis (captain), N Hall, H MacDonald (A Hall 80), L Charteris, D Lydiate, L Evans (H Gustafson 11-20), J Bearman (G Webb 72)

Scorers: penalties - J Tovey, J Arlidge (2): drop goals - J Tovey

Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU)

Attendance: 6,608

Argus star man: Hoani MacDonald

* The Lions are sweating on Tom Shanklin’s fitness after he was injured near the end of the game with a suspected dislocated shoulder but the Blues medical team apparently put it back in place.