NEWPORT Gwent Dragons were unable to repeat their shock Guinness Pro12 in Cardiff down the road after being downed 22-11 by the Ospreys in Swansea, writes Chris Kirwan.

The Rodney Parade region ended a four-year wait for an away derby win at the Arms Park on Boxing Day but could not follow up in a drab encounter at the Liberty Stadium.

The Ospreys moved back to the top of the table with victory although it was a performance that may have left Wales fly-half Dan Biggar to ponder a repeat of the apology that followed their home win against the Scarlets last month.

Meanwhile the Dragons were left to lament Tom Prydie’s late conversion striking the upright when a successful effort would have given them the chance of at least leaving with a bonus point to close the gap on the ninth-placed Cardiff Blues.

While the Ospreys can look forward to a playoff push in the run-in the Dragons are slumming it in the bottom third with the Blues and the Italian pair of Zebre and Treviso, which makes the next fortnight all the more important.

If they get it right on a trip to Newcastle and home encounter against Stade Francais then they will have a European Rugby Challenge Cup quarter-final to look forward to after the Six Nations.

Get it wrong and ninth spot and avoiding the ignominy of being Wales’ worst region is all there is to play for.

They will certainly need to show a lot more spark in attack if they are to down the Falcons on the plastic Kingston Park pitch on Saturday if they are to set up a humdinger against the Parisians.

Wales coach Rob Howley talked about the “X factor” and ability to “put bums on seats at Rodney Parade” when the burgeoning pair of Tyler Morgan and Hallam Amos penned dual contracts.

Yet the centre and wing have barely had the chance to stretch their legs with ball in hand in recent weeks and the region lacks a bit of guile and direction to go with their usual tenacity.

The Dragons made an excellent start after kicking a penalty to the corner, going close with a driving lineout and then hammering away at the line before settling for an easy three-pointer by full-back Tom Prydie.

It was level-pegging after 13 scrappy minutes in testing conditions when Wales fly-half Dan Biggar bisected the posts.

The Dragons would have been content at the way that they were preventing the Ospreys from hitting their straps, denying scrum-half Rhys Webb and Biggar the opportunity to pull the strings.

And, like the Scarlets in Llanelli the previous round, they were giving their hosts a torrid time at the scrum and were keen to test them out at the driving lineout, a source of three tries in the drubbing of the Ospreys’ second-string in the LV= Cup.

They turned down two shots at goal in the first half to attempt to muscle their way over with Irish official Dudley Phillips harshly pinging them for crossing from one innovative effort when Lewis Evans gathered and shifted the point of attack.

Yet it took some desperate defence to stay on terms approaching the half hour when home tighthead Dmitri Arhip was inches short and then Webb knocked on attempting to snip over from the ensuing ruck.

The Dragons won a penalty from the resulting scrum – but paid the price when fly-half Jason Tovey missed touch with his clearance.

The Ospreys ran the ball back and, after blindside Dan Lydiate was agonisingly close to going over against his first region, Ashley Beck floated a delightful pass for number eight Tyler Ardron to canter over.

Biggar converted and then traded penalties with Prydie to make it 13-6 at the break after a nip-and-tuck first 40 minutes.

The Dragons needed to show more urgency in attack if they were to stun the title hopefuls yet a pair of scrum penalties in a forgettable third quarter put the Ospreys 19-6 to the good.

Hopes of returning east with anything to show for their efforts faded even further when tighthead Brok Harris was yellow-carded for totting up too many scrummaging offences in the 63rd minute.

Yet he was swiftly followed to the sin bin by Wales hooker Scott Baldwin for giving Mr Phillips some unwanted advice at the set piece.

And the Dragons took their chance to get back into the game when replacement scrum-half Richie Rees, who added vim and vigour off the bench, sniped over in the 70th minute after the forwards had done the dirty work.

Prydie’s conversion – which would have put them back in bonus point range – struck the right upright and Biggar had the final say of an uninspiring affair with a penalty in the last minute.

Ospreys: D Evans, R Fussell, A Beck, J Matavesi, E Walker, D Biggar, R Webb (R Webb 77), D Jones (G Thomas 54), S Parry (S Baldwin 54), D Arhip (A Jarvis 33), J King (R Bernardo 71), A W Jones (captain), D Lydiate (S Parry 72- 75), J Tipuric, T Ardron.

Scorers: try – T Ardron; conversion - D Biggar; penalties – D Biggar (4)

Dragons: T Prydie (GR Jones 76), M Pewtner, T Morgan, J Dixon, H Amos, J Tovey (D Jones 63), J Evans (R Rees 63), P Price (O Evans 61), E Dee (R Buckley 73), B Harris (T Faletau 72), A Coombs (M Screech 71), R Landman (captain), L Evans (J Thomas 56), N Cudd, T Faletau (L Fairbrother 63).

Scorers: try – R Rees; penalties – T Prydie (2)

Referee: Dudley Phillips (Ireland)

Attendance: 7,132

Argus star man: Elliot Dee