THE SHRIEKS of "give it to Shane" used to come from the stands at the Millennium Stadium and at Rodney Parade it may soon be a case of "chuck it to Hallam and Tyler".

Newport Gwent Dragons will play knockout European rugby for only the second time in April thanks to their stunning Challenge Cup victory in Newcastle.

It was meant to be a tense and tight battle to decide the winners of Pool Three but instead it was a try-fest with the Dragons scoring five of their six scores in the opening half an hour before withstanding a rally by the Falcons, who should still make the last eight as runners-up.

The Rodney Parade region had started the Euro campaign in remarkable style by beating Stade Francais in Paris with a bonus point and their exploits in the north east were just as jaw-dropping.

Like at the Stade Jean Bouin they gave it a crack with Wales hopefuls Tyler Morgan, 19, and Hallam Amos, 20, running riot. The talented pair have been talked about for some time along with their fellow youngster Jack Dixon, 20, and they delivered at Kingston Park.

Amos had a horror show when the Dragons slipped up against Newcastle at Rodney Parade, mixing some dazzling runs with ball in hand with conceding 14 points in a 30-26 defeat through a pair of chargedowns.

He made up for that nightmare by smartly finishing for the bonus-point try, creating another for Rynard Landman with a brave chip, gather and offload and then settling the nerves with a magnificent finish approaching the hour.

Morgan showed his class with several gliding runs from 13 and also caused the Falcons plenty of problems with his power.

The European Dragons are a different beast to the Guinness Pro12 Dragons; they've scored 29 tries in five group games and they've scored 14 tries in 13 league games.

They signalled their intent to run on the plastic pitch by picking Dorian Jones at fly-half and he did well, bringing his strike runners into play well.

But this wasn't a victory earned solely by those with the X factor out wide, the pack more than played their part by scoring two tries through their much-improved driving lineout and providing the platform for the speedsters to strut their stuff.

And nobody deserved a celebratory beer on Saturday night more than Hugh Gustafson, a player who it's fair to say hasn't enjoyed great success since switching from loosehead to hooker.

The pressure was on 'Gus', nobody doubts his talents in the loose but Newcastle possess a superb defensive lineout and the ability to exploit his occasionally shaky throwing.

But the hooker, who only started because in-form Elliot Dee was carrying a knock, Rhys Thomas is injured and Rhys Buckley is not registered for Europe, had a 100 per cent success rate at the lineout to go along with a superb effort around the paddock.

Everyone played their part in what turned out to be a glorious win in a game that had started ominously with the Falcons destroying the Dragons at a scrum to allow fly-half Tom Catterick to kick them into a 3-0 lead.

But the Dragons then enjoyed the most purple of purple patches, scoring five tries before half an hour had been played.

First Morgan finished superbly then, after home flanker Richard Mayhew had been sin-binned for killing the ball on his line, the driving lineout earned two scores, the first a penalty try and the second from Andrew Coombs.

Amos' expert finish down the left secured the bonus point after 26 minutes and then the winger chipped and gathered before giving lock Rynard Landman a run-in.

In rugby a first-half hammering is frequently followed by a second-half fightback and so it proved with the Falcons giving the Dragons the jitters after one presumes they were on the receiving end of an almighty rollocking.

Replacement centre Juan Pablo Socino crashed over then Chris Harris, moved to the wing from midfield, gathered a neat grubber through to make it 35-17 with half an hour left.

Thankfully Amos settled the nerves with a second wonderful score before Newcastle helped their chances of making the last eight as runners-up by bagging their own bonus through back row forwards Will Welch and Andy Saull.

But they couldn't spoil the Dragons' day as joined the class of 2006/7 by earning a Challenge Cup quarter-final thanks to the region's first ever Euro win on English soil.

Ignore the naysayers that point to them playing weakened sides; the region has produced sterling performances to secure a clean sweep of away wins at Stade Francais, Bucharest and Newcastle and their reward should be a home quarter-final.

That could possibly be against Cardiff Blues but frankly who cares?

After seasons of Euro anguish it's a relief that next Saturday the maths will be to work out who the Dragons are playing instead of whether they have sneaked into the last eight.

Newcastle: S Hammersley, T Penny (J Socino 40), A Powell, C Harris (A Davies 67), A Tait, T Catterick (R Clegg 62), R Tipuna, A Rogers (E Fry 62), G McGuigan (R Hawkins 69), K Brookes (A Rogers 77), S Robinson (W Witty 70), K Thompson, R Mayhew, A Saull (captain), C York (W Welch 62).

Scorers: tries – J Socino, C Harris, W Welch, A Saull; conversions – T Catterick (2), R Clegg; penalty – T Catterick

Dragons: T Prydie, M Pewtner (GR Jones 67), T Morgan, J Dixon, H Amos, D Jones (A O'Brien 56), J Evans (L Jones 60), P Price (O Evans 52), H Gustafson (E Dee 70), B Harris (L Fairbrother 64), A Coombs (C Hill 64), R Landman (captain), J Thomas (T Faletau 54), N Cudd, L Evans.

Scorers: tries – T Morgan, penalty, A Coombs, H Amos (2), R Landman; conversions – T Prydie (5)

Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)

Attendance: 3,280