NEWPORT Gwent Dragons avoided a European Rugby Challenge Cup banana skin to enjoy an excellent win in extremely challenging conditions in Bucharest.

Tries by centre Ashley Smith, hooker Rhys Thomas, flanker James Thomas, lock Andrew Coombs (2) earned a five-point haul that gives the region a golden chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals, either as pool winners or one of the best runners-up.

The Dragons’ attitude – and gameplan – was spot-on in a situation that was made for a cup upset with a sub-zero temperature, basic stadium and excited underdogs.

There had been a few nerves when the Wolves, who have pushed Worcester, Newcastle and most recently Stade Francais all the way on their own turf, raced into a 10-0 lead thanks to their beefy pack but the Dragons stayed composed to emerge with a vital victory.

They host the Romanians at Rodney Parade on Friday and another bonus-point win would set up a crunch encounter with unbeaten pool leaders Newcastle in January and the home finale against Stade Francais.

The game had been moved across town to Ghencea Stadium as the Stadium Arcul de Triumf was waterlogged.

The surface was fine on the pitch next door to Steaua Bucharest’s rather more grand ground but the conditions were extremely tough, giving professional players a taste of Swalec League rugby in north Gwent.

Bucharest fielded three players who had started in Romania’s autumn win against Canada – centre Catalin Dascalu, wing Ionut Botezatu and fly-half Florin Vlaicu, who had kicked all of the points in the 18-9 win against the Cannucks.

Scrum-half Florin Surugiu, centre Florin Ionita and wing Robert Neagu had also been unused replacements in that notable Test win in the build-up to the World Cup, so the Wolves were clearly no mugs.

The adage of there being no easy games at this level has been proved wrong by one-sided romps against Mogliano and Cavalieri Prato in recent years but it was clearly going to be different on a perishing afternoon in the east of Europe.

The Wolves made a perfect start and put their visitors under severe pressure with their simple but effective pick-and-drive approach.

Ionita booted them into a sixth-minute lead and then converted after pack pressure earned an overlap that saw flanker Sean Morrell go over from Razvan Ailenei’s pass.

The fly-half converted and Bucharest were good value for their 10-0 lead.

However, the Dragons stayed composed and worked their way into the game with Geraint Rhys Jones booting penalties on 18 and 28 minutes.

And they got their noses in front just before half-time when centre Ashley Smith, who had earlier gone close after a lively break involving wing Tom Prydie, flanker Nic Cudd and scrum-half Richie Rees, got over the line.

The Dragons hammered away at the line and the Wolves stood firm before the ball was worked right for fly-half Jason Tovey to pick up well off his toes and put Smith over with Jones adding an excellent conversion for 13-10.

And they were in total command with half an hour left thanks to a pair of driving lineout tries by hooker Rhys Thomas and flanker James Thomas that earned a 23-10 lead.

The bonus point arrived on the hour when fly-half Jason Tovey intercepted and raced into the home 22.

Referee Giuseppe Vivarini was playing advantage for a deliberate knock on but centre Ross Wardle kept his cool to provide Andrew Coombs with a run-in.

Job done but there was still time for Coombs to stretch over for a second after another patient attack for a hard-earned 37-10 victory.

Bucharest scorers: try – S Morrell; conversion – F Vlaicu; penalty – F Vlaicu

Dragons scorers: tries – A Smith, R Thomas, J Thomas, A Coombs (2); conversions – GR Jones (3); penalties – GR Jones (2)