Bath battle past Dragons

Bath knocked Toulouse off top spot in Pool Five of the Heineken Cup thanks to a hard-fought 15-12 win over the Dragons at Rodney Parade.

Stuart Hooper's 66th minute try proved enough for the Guinness Premiership side to get out of Newport with four crucial points.

The Dragons did their best to throw a spanner in the works, battling back from 8-0 down at the break to take the lead with two second-half tries.

But Bath, the great entertainers in the Guinness Premiership this season, dug deep to clinch a result that leaves them well-placed to reach the knockout stages.

Lightning start

A boggy pitch and swirling wind made running rugby hard work but the visitors made a lightning start that resulted in an early try from Joe Maddock in the right corner.

Butch James was unable to add the conversion but had come to grips with the tough kicking conditions by the 27th minute to slot over a penalty.

At 8-0 ahead Bath were in cruise control, Michael Claassens leading the way in attack to such an extent that Dragons skipper Luke Charteris was yellow carded for holding onto the scrum-half following a scintillating break from deep.

However, by half time the numbers were even at 14 apiece as Hooper was sent to the sin-bin to the delight of the home crowd, who had already been wound up into a frenzy by the antics of Bath's other lock, Justin Harrison.

Bath's plight became even worse soon after the break when number eight Daniel Browne joined Hooper in the bin for dragging down Wayne Evans.

Newport-Gwent opted to kick for the corner instead of taking the easy three points on offer but the positive move failed to immediately pay off as the visitors' depleted pack somehow managed to turn the ball over.

The Dragons were not to be denied, though, and from the resulting line-out James Arlidge's delicate chip set up Richard Fussell for his fourth try in as many games.

Golden opportunity

The conversion was added and with the gap down to just a point, Bath suddenly looked in danger of missing out on a golden opportunity having seen Toulouse suffer a shock loss to Glasgow 24 hours earlier.

Under pressure they appeared to press the self-destruct button, James Scaysbrook getting himself caught in possession and right on his own line

Scrum-half Evans appeared to have knocked on with his arm but was allowed to go on and ground the loose ball, putting the Dragons in front for the first time.

However, the match-winning moment didn't arrive until six minutes later courtesy of a powerful burst from Alex Crockett.

The Bath captain finally breached the midfield defence and although Browne was then held up short, Hooper was on hand to take an easy pass and score a try that puts his team in pole position heading into a final-day showdown with Toulouse at The Rec.