Cardiff Blues won their second game on the road this season as they beat the Dragons 16-5 at Rodney Parade on Saturday.
11 points from the boot of youngster Rhys Patchell made the difference as the Blues edged a tight contest.
The first half was a scrappy affair with countless mistakes from both sides at the set piece and the breakdown and the kickers missing with several penalty attempts as well.
19-year-old fly-half Patchell finally put the first points on the board with a penalty for the visitors just a few minutes before half-time but that sparked the Dragons into action.
And, after a number of strong runs from the forwards, Steffan Jones spotted a gap in the defence and darted over to give them a slender 5-3 lead at the break.
Prop Nathan Trevett was sinbinned for the Blues early in the second half but the hosts could not take advantage of the extra man and, in fact, it was the Cardiff outfit that had the better of that 10-minute period.
Moments after Jamie Roberts had come on to make his return after six months out with a knee injury, his Welsh international colleague Alex Cuthbert seized upon a handling error from the Dragons and streaked away to score.
The impressive Patchell converted the try to give the visitors a five-point advantage and that is the way the score stayed until the final five minutes as both sides again struggled to get any momentum in a very stop-start match.
Patchell successfully slotted over two penalties late on to ensure that the Blues take the bragging rights from this Welsh derby and deny the Dragons a losing bonus point but it is not a match that will live long in the memory for many people.
The scorers:
For Dragons:
Try: S Jones
For Cardiff Blues:
Try: Cuthbert
Con: Patchell
Pens: Patchell 3
Yellow card: Trevett (Cardiff - 44th min)
Dragons: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Will Harries, 13 Pat Leach, 12 Andy Tuilagi, 11 Tom Prydie, 10 Steffan Jones, 9 Jonathan Evans. 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Lewis Evans (capt), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Adam Jones, 4 Ian Nimmo, 3 Dan Way, 2 Steve Jones, 1 Phil Price.
Replacements: 16 Hugh Gustafson, 17 Aaron Coundley, 18 Nathan Buck, 19 Jevon Groves, 20 Tom Brown, 21 Liam Davies, 22 Ashley Smith, 23 Adam Hughes.
Cardiff Blues: 15 Thomas Williams, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Gavin Evans, 12 Dafydd Hewitt, 11 Harry Robinson, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Andries Pretorius (c), 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Josh Navidi, 5 James Down, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Taufa'ao Filise, 2 Marc Breeze, 1 Nathan Trevett.
Replacements: 16 Kristian Dacey, 17 Thomas Davies, 18 Benoit Bourrust, 19 Lou Reed, 20 Rory Watts-Jones, 21 Lewis Jones, 22 Ceri Sweeney, 23 Jamie Roberts.
Venue: Rodney Parade
Referee: Neil Hennessy (Wales)
Assistant referees: James Jones (Wales), Wayne Davies (Wales)
Television match official: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
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