THE Newport Gwent Dragons capped off a superb weekend to beat fierce rivals Cardiff Blues in an entertaining friendly at the BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park.

After the Dragons lifted the Singha Premiership Rugby 7s trophy in London on Friday night, this latest triumph has given the region a real lift.

There was plenty to be pleased about for Rodney Parade side in this friendly, their last before kicking off their Guinness PRO12 campaign away at Connacht next Friday night.

Their set piece showed up well, the backs looked slick and alert and the half backs who started, scrum half Sarel Pretorius and No 10 Jason Tovey, controlled matters well and were sharp.

The visitors were turned over a few more times than they would probably have liked but they will be satisfied with a very decent performance.

A lively opening presented both sides with scoring opportunities, the Dragons going close when Rynard Landman galloped away after the ball ricocheted from an attempted Blues kick ahead but the lock knocked on after a fine tackle by Rhys Patchell.

But they soon took the lead after a lovely break by outside half Tovey saw him ship the ball on to number eight Ed Jackson in the hosts’ 22.

Possession was quickly recycled and Pretorius crossed for the opening try from short range.

Tovey’s conversion gave the visitors a 7-0 lead after ten minutes.

It lasted a matter of a few minutes only after the Blues hit back when skipper Josh Navidi was driven over the try-line by his pack in the left corner, Patchell’s immaculate conversion brought the teams level.

Tovey put the Dragons deservedly back ahead after 20 minutes with a neatly struck penalty from 40 metres.

The Gwent region suffered a setback almost immediately when Pretorius was somewhat harshly yellow carded for charging down a pass deep in enemy territory.

It gave the Blues the respite they desperately needed and Patchell rubbed salt in the wound when he put his side ahead for the first after gathering a kick ahead, his own extras making the score 14-10 with 26 minutes gone.

To their credit, the Dragons continued to dominate even when down to 14 men but squandered an excellent change to regain the lead when they fumbled from an attacking scrum five.

Back to 15 men, Tovey reduced the arrears to just a point when he slotted over his second penalty five minutes before the interval.

Pretorius grabbed his second try with seconds to go before half-time when the No 9 pounced on a lineout tap down by Landman to go under the posts, Tovey’s extras giving his side a 20-14 advantage.

The second half saw the Blues almost completely change all personnel and they even sported a different strip – their away kit.

The Dragons stretched their lead with a fine team try scored by centre Adam Warren which was starred by a superb run and outrageous dummy by the impressive Landman.

Tovey’s conversion attempt sailed wide but the Dragons were full value for their 11-point lead with just over half an hour to go.

They went 32-14 up when they exploited some poor kicking by Blues No 10 Gareth Davies, replacement No 9 Charlie Davies finishing off some slick play, from Tovey in particular.

But the Blues weren’t going down without a fight and number eight Macauley Cook was driven over for a try converted by Gareth Davies.

The Blues were right back in to when hooker Rhys Williams crossed in the corner after a catastrophic mistake by Dragons replacement back rower James Thomas who kept the ball alive with a reckless flip pass over his head.

Sweetly converted by Gareth Davies, the Dragons lead was slashed to 32-28.

A penalty by visiting wing Tom Prydie with just over 15 minutes to go gave his side a much-needed lift to stop the rot.

The Blues went in search of at least a draw but the Newport-based side held on to take the spoils.

Cardiff Blues first half: D Fish, C Knight, T Isaacs, G Evans, O Jenkins, R Patchell, T Knoyle, S Hobbs, E Lewis, T Filise, J Hoeata, J Down, J Turnbull, J Navidi (captain), M Vosawai.

Cardiff Blues second half: H Davies, C Knight, G Smith, A Thomas, O Jenkins, G Davies, L Jones, T Davies, R Williams (L Belcher 76), C Mitchell, M Normandale, C Dicomidis, J Groves, E Jenkins, M Cook.

Scorers: tries – Navidi, Patchell, Cook, Williams; conversions – Patchell (2), Davies (2).

Dragons: C Meyer (G R Jones 66), T Prydie (A Hewitt 70), A Warren (B Nightingale 66), R Wardle, N Scott, J Tovey (D Jones 55), S Pretorius (C Davies 48), P Price (B Stankovich 44, L Garrett 66), R Thomas (captain) (H Gustafson 35, R Buckley 72), S Knight (L Fairbrother 51), C Hill, R Landman, L Evans (N Croswell 53), N Cudd (J Benjamin 66), E Jackson (J Thomas 55).

Scorers: tries – Pretorius (2), Warren, Davies; conversions – Tovey (3); penalties– Tovey (2), Prydie.

Referee: Ian Davies (WRU).

Attendance: 3,164.