It was the first time Irish had won away from home in the Heineken Cup and means their next two games, home and away against Perpignan, are set up perfectly.
There were two tries for Argentinian wing Tomas De Vedia and centre Delon Armitage, with Mike Catt and Nick Kennedy also getting on the score sheet. Fullback Peter Hewat only missed one long range effort at goal in a kicking haul of 15 points.
The Dragons had two consolation scores from short range by lock Michael Owen and hooker Steve Jones, but were out-muscled and out-thought by the English outfit.
The Dragons should have got off to a flying start when centre Rhodri Gomer-Davies broke clear from loose ball on halfway. If there had been anyone faster outside him it would have been a try, but hooker Steve Jones passed on to lock Luke Charteris who was tackled into touch.
Then London Irish hit a purple patch of 24 unanswered points, started by a penalty by fullback Hewat before right wing De Vedia took over with two tries. The first involved a neat finish of a London Irish attack sparked by scrum half Peter Richards with a long pass from outside half Catt and a shorter one from flanker Kieran Roche putting the wing clear.
The second came from a Dragons’ mistake on their own line, a kick through bounced back over the head of fullback Kevin Morgan and when he failed to gather De Vedia was on hand to catch and drop over the try line.
London Irish had their tails up at this point and Catt sauntered through for another try as the visitors stretched their lead, Hewat extending the points gap with a perfect kicking performance.
It got worse for the home side, another kick through for Irish wing De Vedia to chase and he collected the ball to slip it to centre Armitage to get his side’s fourth try and secure the bonus point.
The Dragons had got themselves on the scoresheet by this point with a penalty from Ceri Sweeney and would add a try through some typical quick thinking by lock Owen.
A kick through was slapped out of play by Hewat and the Dragons went for the attacking line-out from the resultant penalty, with Owen diving over the middle and just getting the ball down over the line – a decision given by the television match official. Sweeney converted to make the half-time score 10-31.
The second half did not start much better for the home side as another Irish kick through again caused havoc in the home defence, it was regathered by centre Armitage and left wing Sailosi Tagicakibau put lock Nick Kennedy clear to canter in. Hewat converted.
The Dragons did hit back with a period of pressure on the visitors’ line finished off by hooker Steve Jones just reaching out to get the ball onto the line for a try, again given by the TMO. Sweeney converted.
Perhaps appropriately the visitors has the last word as Armitage got his second try after being passed the ball in the middle of a London Irish attack. Everyone stopped expecting an offside decision, even Armitage, but he was allowed to go on to score.
target=_blank>Click Here for a Statistical Match Report from the Newport Gwent Dragons v London Irish Heineken Cup clash
