Darren Edwards’ men had won four of their last five RaboDirect PRO12 fixtures to give themselves an outside chance of catching the Blues but a 27-19 reverse at Rodney Parade now leaves them with an even bigger mountain to climb.
Victories over Edinburgh (twice), Aironi and the Blues saw the Dragons head into the Round 19 fixture in high spirits, while Connacht’s record of just one league win since September made the hosts heavy favourites on Friday night.
Wales No8 Toby Faletau marked his return from Grand Slam action with a late try but it was too little too late after Connacht’s Tongan winger Fetu’u Vainikolo crossed early on in each half.
Vainikolo went over in the ninth minute of the first period before grabbing his second just moments after the break as the visitors built on their substantial 19-9 half-time advantage.
Miah Nikora added five penalties and a conversion for a personal haul of 17 points as Connacht claimed only their second away success of the season.
Young fly-half Lewis Robling kicked four three-pointers and added the extras to Faletau’s try but Connacht were good value for their victory despite Edwards also fielding Wales stars Dan Lydiate and Luke Charteris in his starting line up.
Faletau’s strong surge after good work from Tom Brown on 73 minutes did at least set up a grandstand finish but the Dragons couldn’t force their way over again even though Eoghan Grace became the second Connacht player to be sin binned in the closing stages.
To make matters worse for the Dragons, replacement Steffan Jones pushed a kickable penalty wide in the final minute to leave the hosts without even the losing bonus point that would have pushed them to 11 behind the Blues with three games remaining.
