A CHANGE of scene didn’t lead to a change of fortunes for Newport Gwent Dragons as they suffered a 26-24 defeat to Cardiff Blues in their Guinness PRO12 finale.

The Dragons ended their campaign in the unfamiliar surroundings of Caerphilly RFC but it was a familiar script as they lost their 12th game on the spin to slip beneath Treviso into 11th in the final standings.

Kingsley Jones’ men had hoped to end the season in style by beating their fiercest rivals for a first win in any competition since January 16 and for a first league derby success since their triumph in the capital on Boxing Day, 2014.

However, they failed the build on a super start and must now go into next season, whatever shape they are in and wherever is home depending on Tuesday's vote, with those streaks intact.

As ever, there was much to admire from aspects of the performance but errors at key times killed the Dragons and they could have no complaints about the result despite a pair of lovely tries.

The game was played in Caerphilly because of a fixture clash with Newport County enjoying home advantage for their vital League Two survival clash with Notts County.

That meant the encounter was on neutral territory at a venue closer to the Arms Park than Rodney Parade.

The Dragons had taken a financial hit from being forced to move but it was a case of making the best of a less than ideal situation and there was something of a carnival atmosphere, while the Green Army had put hours of graft in to spruce up the venue.

That toil extended into the wee small hours of Friday night with the fire service helping avoid a potential embarrassment by watering an extremely dry pitch to get the green light at a Saturday morning inspection.

And Carl Meyer was testing how much give the turf had after just 70 seconds when he dived over down the right to cap a superb start.

Centres Sam Beard and Tyler Morgan combined to work the Dragons into the 22 and then, after charges by wing Pat Howard and number eight Ollie Griffiths towards the line, fly-half Angus O’Brien found his full-back all alone on the flank with an inch-perfect cross kick.

O’Brien missed the conversion but made it 8-0 via the right post with a penalty in the eighth minute after a lineout offence.

The Dragons were playing with verve, keen to give it a real crack in their final outing of the season.

However, they were pinned back in the 18th minute with the softest of tries, O’Brien blotting his copybook after a bright start by failing to gather a grubber through to gift full-back Matthew Morgan a score via a hack-on by Wales wing Alex Cuthbert.

Blues fly-half Gareth Anscombe added an excellent conversion before a high tackle on Beard allowed O’Brien to make it 11-7 after a quarter.

However, for all the Dragons’ toil they fell behind on the half-hour when they were victims of a delightful side-stepping try by centre Willis Halaholo, including a fend on the usually dependable tackle machine Nic Cudd, that Anscombe improved for 14-11.

That’s how it stayed as the teams headed for the changing rooms with the Dragons having 40 minutes to turn things around and end their losing streak.

It was the Blues that struck first after the resumption with Wales international Anscombe slotting over a penalty won at a scrum after 50 minutes.

The Dragons cause wasn’t helped when hooker Rhys Thomas was sin-binned for chocking a Blues player around the neck – an offence that led to a debut off the bench for Wales Under-20s front rower Ellis Shipp – and they were pinned deep inside their half.

After the Blues turned down shots at goal in favour of trying to score a third try they eventually settled for an Anscombe three-pointer.

However, the Dragons responded with a pair of booming efforts from Meyer to cut the gap to 20-17 with eight minutes left.

Anscombe seemingly secured the spoils with a brace from the tee only for the hosts to earn one last shot with a lovely try by Beard after fine work by replacements Jack Dixon and Sarel Pretorius.

O’Brien converted with a peach of a drop goal but it was too little, too late with the Dragons having the settle for another losing bonus.

Newport Gwent Dragons: C Meyer, A Hughes, T Morgan (J Dixon 61), S Beard, P Howard (S Pretorius 67-73), A O'Brien, C Davies (S Pretorius 73), S Hobbs (P Price 76), R Thomas (E Shipp 67), B Harris (C Mitchell 76), M Screech (R Landman 68), C Hill, L Evans (captain), N Cudd (H Keddie 72), O Griffiths (E Shipp 57-67).

Scorers: tries – C Meyer, S Beard; conversion – A O’Brien; penalties – A O’Brien (2), C Meyer (2)

Cardiff Blues: M Morgan, A Cuthbert, R Lee-Lo, W Halaholo (S Shingler 72), R Williams (T James 56), G Anscombe, L Williams (T Williams 72), C Domachowski, M Rees, T Filise (K Assiratti 52), J Hoeata (S Davies 76), M Cook, S Bennett, E Jenkins (captain), N Williams.

Scorers: tries – M Morgan, W Halaholo; conversions – G Anscombe (2); penalties – G Anscombe (4)

Referee: Ian Davies (Wales)

Attendance: 5,167