If last week the rugby returned to Kingsholm, this time around Gloucester showed they could do it on the road with a bonus point winning display which saw them through to the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

Akapusi Qera was the benefactor of a marauding second-half display from both forwards and backs which the Newport Gwent Dragons had little answer to, the Fijian scoring a fine hat-trick with the bonus-point winning score a penalty try.

All that after the Welsh outfit had led at half-time at Rodney Parade, a try from Rhodri Gomer-Davies cancelling out Qera's first, James Arlidge landing one each of a conversion, penalty and drop goal while Dave Attwood was off the field for a silly professional foul, killing the ball after a Richard Fussell break.

It all looked pretty bleak for the Cherry and Whites at that point, but it was a rejuvenated 15 players who emerged from the tunnel, and they had their reward almost immediately.

Luke Narraway, on his return to the starting line-up, provided the spark with a break down the right which saw Charlie Sharples go over via a catch, beat a man and pass from Alasdair Dickinson, but the pass was adjudged forward.

But Gloucester were awarded a penalty and after Robinson had gone to the corner the forwards switched the point of the drive excellently for Qera to claim his second, although it looked like he shared it with Scott Lawson at the bottom of the pile.

Gloucester were within a point at this stage, and back came the Dragons. They enjoyed a period of pressure inside the Cherry and Whites' half which the defence soaked up nicely, the play eventually returning to the other end where Robinson landed a penalty from in front of the posts to put his side back in front.

Then came the turning point in the game. A yellow card to home replacement prop Ben Castle meant a reshuffle in the Dragons pack, while Bryan Redpath shrewdly introduced scrum specialists Olivier Azam and Nick Wood.

But Redpath could not have predicted what happened next. From his first line-out, Azam took a switch back ball from Attwood and produced a dummy and then a pop to Qera who crashed over.

Five minutes later from a scrum on the Dragons line, Azam, Wood and Somerville destroyed their opposite numbers and the bonus point was theirs, via a penalty try which was clear cut only for the fact it was at the first time of asking.

There was still time for a try from Ashley Smith, converted by Jason Tovey at the death, but Gloucester had their bonus point and were already thinking about quarter-finals by this point.


Gloucester: O Morgan; J Simpson-Daniel, T Molenaar, E Fuimaono-Sapolu, T Voyce; N Robinson, R Lawson; A Dickinson, S Lawson, G Somerville; D Attwood (yellow card 26/36), A Brown; L Narraway, A Qera, G Delve (capt). Reps: O Azam (S Lawson 60), N Wood (Dickinson 56), P Capdevielle (Somerville 70), A Eustace (Attwood 70), P Buxton (Delve 64), D Lewis (R Lawson 64), F Burns (Robinson 78), C Sharples (Morgan 29).

Newport: M Thomas; A Brew, R Gomer-Davies, T Riley, R Fussell; J Arlidge, W Evans; H Gustafson, T Willis (capt), G Robinson (L Evans 57/65); H MacDonald, R Sidoli; D Lydiate, J Harris, L Evans. Reps: S Jones (Willis 63), A McKenzie (Gustafson 22), B Castle (Robinson 45, yellow card 55/65), A Jones (MacDonald 63), G Thomas, J Leadbeater (W Evans 56), A Smith (Gomer-Davies 46), J Tovey (Arlidge 60).

Referee: C Berdos (France)