DRAGONS 23 PERPIGNAN 13

Newport Gwent Dragons made it two wins out of two in Europe when they beat a dangerous Perpignan side in the Amlin Challenge Cup at Rodney Parade last night.

They shot into a 17-0 lead before James Hook marked his return to Wales with two penalties, but they regained the initiative when Jason Tovey dropped two goals, the outside half contributing 13 points.

Forwards Lewis Evans and Adam Jones, both very lively, scored first half tries, but any ideas the Dragons had of a bonus point victory disappeared when the French side proved more resilient than expected after trailing by those 17 points.

Nevertheless, the Dragons, with Martyn Thomas outstanding, have put themselves in a good position and will head into their December double header against Exeter well placed to top their group and reach the quarter-finals.

They quickly profited from a stray throw at a Perpignan line-out, the ball going straight to Gavin Thomas who made headway rapidly, but when the ball came back no-one was on hand to take advantage.

Toby Faletau was next to make ground, impressively taking up where he left off in the World Cup, but again the Dragons couldn’t exploit it and James Hook ran elusively then kicked high, but Martyn Thomas was in position to clear.

Springbok Tonderai Chavhanga soon showed his paces with a searing run, though he might have been better served passing outside him instead of taking the tackle.

It was nearly all Dragons in the opening stages and full back Thomas cut through well only to be cut down by a so-far watertight Perpignan defence.

But they cracked in the 13th minute when a series of drives by the Dragons forwards paid dividends, sucking the defence in and when Martyn Thomas threw out a long pass Lewis Evans took it in his stride to race across for a try which Jason Tovey converted.

But Perpignan almost drew level when lively scrum half Florian Cazenave sped down the touchline but was tackled into touch almost on the corner flag.

The Dragons were soon back on the offensive though and they stretched their lead when Tovey landed a simple penalty.

Aled Brew followed up by taking three would-be tacklers out of the game before transferring to Tovey who handed on to Martyn Thomas for the full back to kick through dangerously.

That heralded a heavy spell of pressure and Faletau twice and Lloyd Burns almost made it to the line, but Adam Jones did for the Dragons’ second try after 25 minutes, Tovey again converting.

But the French side weren’t going to lie down and they had the Dragons in trouble in the scrums and they yielded a penalty which Hook kicked to finally get his new side on the scoreboard after 34 minutes.

But the Dragons ended the half in control, leading 17-3 at the interval, though Nathan Williams threw a poor pass to Wayne Evans with the line beckoning.

The Dragons continued to struggle in the scrums at the start of the second half, shoved unceremoniously off their own ball on one occasion before Hook landed a soaring 45 yard penalty.

Perpignan ominously further strengthened their scrum by bringing on their captain Nicolas Mas, the France World Cup tight head prop, after 48 minutes.

Hook missed a chance to further narrow the gap when he missed a comfortable penalty attempt, then he moved to centre when Nicolas Laharrague went on at outside half after 53 minutes.

Just when it appeared the Dragons were losing a bit of control Tovey settled the nerves with a well taken dropped goal to give them some breathing space and five minutes later he landed another.

The Dragons had changed both their props inside the hour and had now regained the initiative, Perpignan losing scrum half Cazenave, yellow carded for coming in from the wrong side though Tovey missed the penalty.

The Dragons had Gavin Thomas yellow carded nine minutes from the end for going over the top making it 14 apiece and in the final minute Perpignan wing Adrien Plante scored a try converted by Hook.

But the Dragons were well worth their victory, though the size of the crowd was extremely disappointing.

Newport Gwent Dragons: M Thomas, T Chavhanga, A Hughes, A Smith (captain), A Brew, J Tovey, W Evans, N Williams (P Price 53), L Burns (R Buckley 72), D Way (N Buck 58), A Jones, R Sidoli (S Morgan 72), L Evans, T Faletau, G Thomas.

Scorers – tries: L Evans, A Jones; conversions: J Tovey (2); penalty: Tovey; dropped goals: Tovey (2) .

Perpignan: J Porical, A Plante, M Mermoz (R Coetzee 71), G Hume (N Laharrague 53), J Candelon, J Hook, F Cazenave (B Guiry 74), P Freshwater, captain (J Schuster 55), C Geli (G Guirado 48), B Bourrust (N Mas 48), O Olibeau, R Tchale Watchou, G Le Corvec (D Mele 65-, J-P Perez. O Tonita (G Britz 50).

Scorers – try: A Plante; conversion: J Hook; penalties: Hook (2).

Referee: Neil Paterson (Scotland).

Attendance: 5,160.

Argus star choice: Martyn Thomas.