LIFE on the road continues to be grim for Newport Gwent Dragons after they were beaten 28-15 by Leinster in Dublin.

The Guinness Pro12 title contenders cruised to victory to have their bonus point in the bag two minutes into the second half at the Royal Dublin Society before they took their foot off the pedal.

The Dragons enjoyed something of a late flourish to reduce the damage on the scoreboard, with their bench adding energy, but it was another pointless away game despite some attractive late rugby by the visitors.

They are having a marvellous time of things at Rodney Parade but since leaving Llanelli with a pair of bonus points in October they have endured three thrashings.

They lost heavily to Enisei in Krasnodar, the Ospreys in Swansea and Leicester at Welford Road.

It was always going to be an uphill challenge against Leinster, who boast a league home record as marvellous as the Dragons’ is shocking.

The Dubliners have not lost at the RDS since February 2015… to the Dragons. They are now unbeaten in 19 matches at home while Kingsley Jones’ side have gone 19 without victory in the league away from Newport.

The performance would have been more disappointing than the outcome for the head coach because the ebullience that they have been showing at the Parade was sadly lacking along with tenacity in defence until the game was gone.

They showed some late gusto to try and press for a losing bonus point, with Sarel Pretorius and Cory Hill adding impetus from the bench, but they came up short.

The Dragons have to find a solution for their travel sickness as a win is essential at Worcester on Saturday if they are to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages of the European Rugby Challenge Cup.

Leinster started superbly with young fly-half Joey Carbery, who has made just 10 provincial appearances but already has three caps and wins against New Zealand and Australia, pulling the strings.

The Dragons showed plenty of resilience in defence to soak up the pressure but a quickfire brace left them trailing 14-0 after 15 minutes.

Livewire scrum-half Luke McGrath was instrumental in both scores, taking a quick tap rather than settling for three points to spark an attack that was finished off by loosehead Peter Dooley and then making a break that was followed by super offloading and lock Ross Molony reaching over.

Isa Nacewa converted both efforts before Angus O’Brien got the Dragons on the scoreboard with a settling penalty.

It took some desperate defence to prevent try number three when Carbery’s kick through caused mayhem near the Dragons’ line with full-back Carl Meyer groggily helped from the field after being accidentally caught in the head by wing Adam Byrne.

The visitors were under the pump against a Leinster side already intent of making it a bonus point night, although they wasted an opportunity for a third score when hooker James Tracy made a mess of a lineout throw after a succession of penalties had been kicked to the corner.

However, the score came in the 31st minute when number eight Jack Conan cut a lovely line to power past prop Phil Price’s tackle and go under the sticks, Nacewa making it 21-3.

The hosts thought they had the bonus point when centre Rory O’Loughlin hacked on and gathered but the try was chalked off for a forward pass in the build-up.

However, it was a matter of when, not if the bonus would be in the bag and it came just two minutes into the second half.

Jack Dixon was outpaced in midfield on halfway by O’Loughlin and the centre put Carbery over with an inside ball for a try that Nacewa converted.

The Dragons were already playing for pride and thankfully they fired a first shot across Leinster’s bows in the 56th minute when they went close with an impressive lineout drive before, playing with penalty advantage, the ball was spread left for replacement full-back Geraint Rhys Jones to put wing Pat Howard over with a lovely inside ball.

More chances came as the game entered the final quarter with Adam Warren, who had been moved from the wing to midfield, and back row forward Lewis Evans making breaks only for their assist attempts to fail.

However, they were over for a second score in the 70th minute when South African scrum-half Sarel Pretorius sniped over after wing Tom Prydie had gone close.

O’Brien converted from the left and at 28-15 the Dragons had a sniff of a losing bonus point against a Leinster side that had clocked off but they ran out of time.

Leinster: A Byrne, R O’Loughline, N Reid (T Daly 19), I Nacewa, J Carbery (R Byrne 45), L McGrath (C Rock 62), P Dooley (A Porter 52), J Tracy (R Strauss 52), J Loughman (O Heffernan 52), R Molony, H Triggs (M McCarthy 62), R Ruddock, D Leavy, J Conan.

Scorers: tries – P Dooley, R Molony, J Conan, J Carbery; conversions – I Nacewa (4)

Dragons: C Meyer (T Prydie 20, T Knoyle 72-77), P Howard, T Morgan, J Dixon (GR Jones 52), A Warren, A O’Brien, T Knoyle (S Pretorius 56), P Price (T Davies 46), E Dee (R Buckley 56), B Harris (L Fairbrother 75), N Crosswell (C Hill 50), R Landman, L Evans (captain), N Cudd (J Thomas 39-40), H Keddie (J Thomas 46).

Scorers: tries – P Howard, S Pretorius; conversion – A O’Brien; penalty – A O’Brien

Referee: Marius Mitrea (Italy)

Argus star man: Pat Howard