DIFFERENT competition, same outcome as the Dragons’ slim hopes of knockout European rugby were extinguished by eight-try Northampton in the Challenge Cup.

Captain Richard Hibbard had called on the Rodney Parade region to “restore some pride” at Franklin’s Gardens after their 59-10 home hammering by Leinster in the Guinness PRO14.

That their display was an improvement says more about how bad they were in the nine-try dismantling by the Irish province than it does the performance in Northampton.

The Saints won at a canter despite ringing the changes in order to concentrate on beating the drop in the Gallagher Premiership.

They started swiftly and then soaked up some Dragons pressure to lead 19-0 at half-time and then ran riot in the third quarter before the game, mercifully, drifted off.

While mathematically still in contention, the reality is that the last eight is beyond the Dragons while both Clermont Auvergne and the Saints will progress into the knockout stages with the Frenchmen likely to be Pool One winners.

Making the quarter-finals was unlikely from the moment the balls were drawn out of the bag in Lausanne in June.

However, the manner of the losses to Northampton were hugely disappointing… and the Saints are nowhere near as slick a side as Clermont, which makes Saturday’s trip to Stade Marcel Michelin a daunting and potentially damaging one.

The Wales contingent from the autumn internationals were rested for Northampton but they may be needed in France to stop the Top 14 leaders from dishing out a massive humiliation.

South Wales Argus:

A bus mix-up led to the Dragons arriving at the ground at just past 2pm, far from perfect preparation.

The sight of Jackman’s team heading to their changing room while Wales fly-half Dan Biggar was already going for goal in his pre-match routine was a slightly embarrassing one for a professional European tournament.

The Dragons wouldn’t have wanted to use travel chaos as an excuse but they made the worst possible start to concede after just 80 seconds.

Wales full-back Hallam Amos tried to run out the kick-off only to be stripped of the ball and the Saints punished his error, hammering away in the 22 before former England centre Luther Burrell powered over for a 5-0 lead.

Some fine defence by Amos and captain Richard Hibbard in the corner kept it a one-score game, but not for long.

The Saints’ power once again told as they returned to the 22 and then smashed over through giant Fijian lock Api Ratuniyarawa with Biggar this time converting for a 12-0 lead after 11 minutes.

Bulk had proved to be key in Northampton taking their chances but the Dragons had no such luck despite then dominating territory for the next 10 minutes.

Penalties were kicked to the corner, they ran hard and they went through the phases but the pressure didn’t lead to a score.

In fact, the only change was that the Dragons were denied the services of their skipper after Hibbard took a heavy blow when carrying into a brick wall five metres out. The hooker was soon followed off the pitch by influential back row forward Ollie Griffiths, whose right leg had been heavily strapped.

The visitors kept creating openings but lacked the cutting edge to take them but their bid to get back into the game was helped when giant wing Taqele Naiyaravoro was sin-binned approaching half-time after an illegal tackle on centre Adam Warren.

Yet it was the 14-man Saints that struck before half-time with the driving lineout doing the damage after penalties were kicked to the corner.

Eventually it was hooker James Fish, a hat-trick scorer at Rodney Parade in pre-season, that went over with Biggar’s conversion making it 19-0 at the break.

The Dragons needed a fast start to stop things getting ugly, and that’s just what they got with a score after a minute.

Turnover ball was worked right and Amos, with his ‘wrong’ foot, dinked through a grubber for Warren to gather and race over.

Josh Lewis’ conversion made it 19-7 but the hosts’ gap was soon restored after a penalty was kicked to the corner, the pack carried hard and then Burrell picked a lovely line to race under the sticks and make Biggar’s conversion a routine one.

Northampton turned four into five and then six in the blink of an eye, first a big carry then neat offload by Ratuniyarawa put Naiyaravoro over and then straight from the restart a counter led to scrum-half Alex Mitchell racing away to make it 36-7.

It was 41-7 before the hour – Naiyaravoro worked in down the left after a burst by centre Rory Hutchinson – and the only consolation was that Biggar was having an off-day from the tee.

The game then drifted along with the Saints happy with their work and the Dragons happy to limit the damage.

The visitors thought that they’d had the final say when flanker Nic Cudd, who showed his typical graft throughout, went over from a driving lineout but there was a minute left and the Saints went over for try number eight after the ball was worked right to find wing Ollie Sleighholme in space.

Biggar’s conversion made it 48-14 and it was only his problems from the tee that had prevented it being another half-century.

Northampton: G Furbank (A Kellaway 4, F Strachan), O Sleightholme, R Hutchinson (C Davies 65), L Burrell, T Naiyaravoro, D Biggar, A Mitchell, A Waller (captain, W Davis 51), J Fish (R Marshall 58), B Franks (E Painter 28-34, 51), A Ratuniyarawa (D Ribbans 62), A Moon, J Gibson, T Wood, T Harrison (M Eadie 53).

Scorers: tries – L Burrell (2), A Ratuniyarawa, J Fish, T Naiyaravoro (2), A Mitchell, O Sleightholme; conversions – D Biggar (4)

Dragons: H Amos, D Howells, A Warren, J Dixon (J Williams 71), Z Kirchner, J Lewis, T Knoyle (R Davies 58), R Bevington (A Jarvis 51), R Hibbard (captain, R Lawrence 17), L Fairbrother (N Thomas 58), B Nansen (M Screech 51), L Evans, H Keddie (H Taylor 45), N Cudd, O Griffiths (J Benjamin 28).

Scorers: tries – A Warren, N Cudd; conversions – J Lewis (2) Referee: Thomas Charabas (France)