THE Dragons gained revenge in in Russia by edging past Enisei-STM for a win with a crucial bonus point in the European Rugby Challenge Cup.

The region enjoyed their first win away from Rodney Parade in 18 months thanks to tries by Cory Hill, Jared Rosser, Hallam Amos and Charlie Davies in a nervy 28-21 success in Moscow.

The four-try win in tough conditions at Slava Stadium not only ended their away hoodoo, which stretched back to the Challenge Cup quarter-final upset at Gloucester in 2016, but it gave their Pool One qualification hopes a big boost.

With Newcastle and the Russians heading for Newport in December, a pair of home successes would set Bernard Jackman’s side up for a shot at the last eight in the January double-header with Bordeaux-Begles.

History ensured the Dragons, who earned a losing bonus point on opening weekend against the Falcons at Kingston Park, didn’t travel east with any complacency.

Victory means that this weekend’s long journey back from the capital won’t be quite so draining ahead of Friday’s Guinness PRO14 derby against the Ospreys in Swansea.

Last year Kingsley Jones’ travelled to Krasnodar to face Enisei-STM and for all their talk about treating the Russians with respect, their sloppy display ended in a 38-18 drubbing.

This time they had to dig deep against spirited hosts but emerged with the spoils.

The Dragons brought back their big hitters after giving them a rest in Newcastle with Wales internationals Hill, Amos and Tyler Morgan along with Test hopefuls Elliot Dee and Leon Brown starting.

They faced an Enisei XV featuring 12 players who had taken to the field in the famous home victory last October, including prolific fly-half Iurii Kushnarev.

In heavy conditions, more challenging than on the crisp afternoon when they came a cropper in Krasnodar, the Dragons knew they would face fired-up hosts after the Russian champs were beaten 57-17 by Bordeaux-Begles in round one.

Bernard Jackman’s side could ill afford to allow Enisei to build up a head of steam, so it was a relief when they struck first through captain Cory Hill after a charge down after 16 minutes.

Fly-half Angus O’Brien converted and repeated the trick from the right seven minutes later when Jared Rosser crossed for his first try in senior rugby after profiting from a home slip when attempting to field a kick.

That was followed by an injury blow when flanker Ollie Griffiths – who will hope to get a Wales call-up from Warren Gatland on Tuesday – was helped from the field.

The Dragons held their 14-0 lead at the break and carried out their half-time pledges by starting fast in the second period with Wales wing Hallam Amos dashing over after good work by Dee, O’Brien adding the simple extras from in front of the sticks.

At 21-0 up any thoughts of it being one more try and then job done were dispelled when the Russians went over for their first score.

They put the pressure on in the 22 and then hooker Stanislav Selskii, scorer of a brace in Krasnodar, powered over for a try that Kushnarev converted.

The Dragons, with Jackman adding energy from the bench, needed to respond and they went on the hunt for a fourth try.

A couple of chances went begging and instead they were forced into more defensive work and it was game on when Enisei were awarded a penalty try from a dominant five-metre scrum by referee Ian Tempest.

At 21-14 the Dragons’ Euro campaign was on the line, but thankfully the restart was snaffled by the Welshman and after good work by the forwards it was replacement scrum-half Charlie Davies, whose 2016/17 was disrupted by a nasty thumb injury in Russia last year, that went over for the fourth score.

Gavin Henson, on for O’Brien, converted but it still wasn’t job done against their feisty Russians.

It took some desperate defence to hold the hosts up over the line and protect the 14-point lead but Enisei eventually powered over through number eight Anton Rudoi to make it 28-21 with a minute to play.

Thankfully that was as close as Enisei were to get and the Dragons sit on six points ahead of their Rodney Parade fixtures in December with the Russians first up.

Enisei scorers: tries – S Selkii, penalty try, A Rudoi; conversions – I Kushnarev (2), automatic

Dragons: H Amos, J Rosser, T Morgan, P Howard, G Gasson, A O’Brien (G Henson 56), S Pretorius (C Davies 56), L Garrett (T Davies 45), E Dee (G Ellis 48), L Brown (L Fairbrother 48), J Davies, C Hill (captain, R Landman 65), A Wainwright, O Griffiths (J Thomas 24), J Benjamin. 

Scorers: tries – C Hill, J Rosser, H Amos, C Davies; conversions – A O’Brien (3), G Henson

Referee: Ian Tempest