NEWPORT Gwent Dragons finally changed the record by turning around a deficit in the final quarter to not only win their European Rugby Challenge Cup opener with Brive but win in style.

The Guinness Pro12 has been full of familiar sob stories with Dragons head coach Kingsley Jones frequently left to bemoan the fine margins of professional sport.

But Europe has once again provided escape and what looked like being a frustrating evening when Brive went into a 16-13 lead on the hour turned into a five-try, bonus-point victory.

Other newspapers that just carry the scoreline won’t do justice to what was a tense and tight battle.

The Dragons, hunting knockout Euro rugby for a third season on the spin, showed real character to secure a five-point haul and unlike the last two seasons they now need to follow up with victory in round two when they travel to face Russia side Enisei in Krasnodar.

What will please Jones was that even though he was without a number of key players, he got oomph from his bench with Phil Price, Matthew Screech, Sam Beard, Harri Keddie, Angus O’Brien and notably Sarel Pretorius making a big impact.

With Lewis Evans and Ed Jackson grafting hard in the back row and tighthead Brok Harris putting in a massive shift against big French opposition, the Dragons were ultimately more than good value for another fine Challenge Cup win.

They may struggle for victories in the league but they are on a hot streak when playing in Newport in European competition.

They headed into last night’s game on a six-game winning run at Rodney Parade while they were looking to claim their fifth Top 14 scalp since 2013, adding to Bordeaux-Begles, Stade Francais, Pau and Castres.

Brive have made a strong start to the season with a shock away win in Toulon to go with home victories against Stade, Racing 92 and La Rochelle.

They sit seventh in the Top 14 but, no doubt keen to avoid being dragged into a relegation dogfight, rang the changes with just 10 players retained from the matchday squad that was pipped in Bordeaux.

Their budget may not be as large as that of many of their compatriots but Brive could still bring in quality for quality and the visiting press, to a man, predicted an away victory.

That looked an ambitious call when the French side came stumbling out of the blocks but an indication of them taking Europe more seriously this year – a bid to toast their Heineken Cup winning side of 1997 – came when they fought back to edge the first half, although it was level-pegging after 40 minutes on the scoreboard.

The Dragons couldn’t have asked for a better start with a pair of early Nick Macleod penalties settling the nerves before a decidedly sluggish Brive gifted them prime attacking position by captain Petrus Hauman fielding a long kicking and flinging it at his fly-half Thomas Laranjeira.

The French side were offside from the resulting scrum and scrum-half Charlie Davies was stopped on the line from a quick tap before the South African combo of Rynard Landman and Brok Harris barged over, the former accredited with the try.

Macleod’s conversion made it 13-0 with 12 minutes gone and the Dragons were playing with energy and enterprise. The next score would be crucial… and it went to Brive thanks to a moment of genius.

Playing with penalty advantage after a driving lineout was illegally stopped, Laranjeira nutmegged Macleod with a grubber kick and regathered to dash under the posts before converting to make it 13-7.

Suddenly Brive were playing all the rugby and Tyler Morgan only just prevented full-baclk Benjamin Lapeyre from embarrassing him on the outside break to leave the visitors to settle for three more points from Laranjeira’s right boot.

The Dragons’ discipline was letting them down all over the park to allow their French guests to enjoy easy escapes from their own territory and shots at goal when on the attack.

Laranjeira continued his peerless form from the tee in the 36th minute to level and there could be no complaints about the scoreline at half-time, in fact Jones was probably looking forward to some problem-solving.

It was a tense opening to the second half with neither side able to play enough clean rugby to sustain pressure and Macleod also erred from the tee with a second miss of the game in the 50th minute.

The Dragons were finding it hard to win the collisions in attack and tough to unlock the Brive defence, while their own passive defence led to the French side going into the lead for the first time on the hour after going from 22 to 22 with ease for a penalty that Laranjeira banged over.

The Dragons needed to respond and they did just that with a try to pump up the Rodney Parade faithful with captain Lewis Evans smashing over after Wales wing Hallam Amos had dashed into the 22 from quick lineout ball.

Try number two was swiftly followed by try number three from similar distance, lock Cory Hill rewarded for his tireless display with five points that Angus O’Brien turned into seven.

At 25-16 Brive were outside of bonus point range while the hosts were a score away from a five-point haul – but securing the win was primary concern.

But why not be greedy? The Dragons secured the spoils when Amos dotted down from a super Sam Beard grubber kick and, suddenly playing with freedom, his fellow centre Adam Warren scorched over with O’Brien adding the conversion for 37-16.

It was a scoreline that nobody saw coming on the hour but now the mammoth mission to Russia can be made with smiles on faces.

Dragons: C Meyer, A Hewitt, T Morgan (S Beard 69), A Warren, H Amos, N Macleod (A O’Brien 53), C Davies (S Pretorius 56), T Davies (P Price 60), R Buckley (D Harris 74), B Harris (C Mitchell 71), C Hill, R Landman (M Screech 50), J Thomas (H Keddie 60), L Evans (captain), E Jackson.

Scorers: tries – R Landman, L Evans, C Hill, H Amos, A Warren; conversions – N Macleod, A O’Brien (2); penalties – N Macleod (2)

Brive: B Lapeyre, M Radikedike (T Ngwenya 9), A Mignardi (S Galala 64), C Tuatara Morrison, G Namy, T Laranjeira, V Lobzhanidze (J-B Pejoine 69), V Devisme (D Lavergne 50), G Ribes (F Da Ros 56), D Jourdain (S Bekoshvili 2), W Steenkamp, J Snyman (J Uys 53), W Whetton (P Narisia 64), F Sanconnie, P Hauman (captain).

Scorers: try – T Laranjeira; conversion – T Laranjeira; penalties – T Laranjeira (2)

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys

Attendance: 4,126

Argus star man: Brok Harris