A late flurry of tries saw Connacht avoid a historically poor defeat away to the Dragons, although Stuart Lancaster's side still fell to a comprehensive loss in Newport.
The province were humiliated by the previously winless Welsh region, whose 48-28 win saw them move off the foot of the URC table.
With 20 minutes to play, the Dragons were 48-7 in front, and Fili Tiatia's side looked the more likely to add to their lead, but after taking their foot off the pedal they allowed Lancaster’s men back into the game.
Sean Jansen’s try with the final play of the game saw them salvage a bonus point which their performance hardly warranted, after Cian Prendergast had crossed the line twice in the final quarter.
The result and performance ramps up pressure on the western province, who have won just two of their opening six games in the URC, and face Ulster on 27 December, before back-to-back URC games against Leinster in January.
Connacht started brightly in attack, and threatened the Dragons defence on several occasions early on, in particular with a looping pass from Bundee Aki to Dave Heffernan allowing the hooker rampage to the 22.
The province were forced into an early change when Shayne Bolton pulled up with a quad injury, Hugh Gavin replacing him on the wing, but it didn't seem to be impacting their start, as flanker Sean O’Brien (above) hared through a gap in the Dragons defence, sending his team on the front foot once again.
The break led to a penalty from which Connacht got in for the game’s first try on 11 minutes, with Josh Ioane’s flat pass met by a great running line by Sam Gilbert, and the full-back charged over to score the try,, which he converted to make it 7-0 to the visitors.
Tinus de Beer’s kicking game was causing real problems, and when he forced Gilbert into carrying the ball over his own line, it gave the Dragons the platform for their equalising try, which came on 17 minutes from hooker Oli Burrows, who lived up to his surname as he snuck under a pair of bodies from a five-metre tap-and-go penalty.
There was no sense of panic at this stage from Connacht, and they went back on the attack from the restart, but when they won a penalty on 20 minutes inside the Dragons half, Josh Ioane frustratingly sent his kick for touch out on the full.
From that moment on, it all went downhill.
The Dragons were getting on top at the scrum, and could have scored on 24 minutes when Jared Rosser slipped as he raced down the sideline, although they didn't have to wait long for their next try, as scrum-half Che Hope reacted fastest to a sloppy lineout ball, taking advantage of a Sam Illo slip to race in and score his team’s second try.
It would get even better for the hosts on 32 minutes when Rosser ran in to score his side’s third try, but the move was created by Rio Dyer’s scamping run down the wing.
Even at 21-7, it looked like Connacht were still in the game, but a sucker punch right on half time killed the tie off.
Dave Heffernan saw a pass intercepted by Fine Isisi, who gave the Welsh side one final first half attack, and they made it count as Paul Boyle was caught pulling a maul down, with a penalty try making it 28-7, and a yellow card putting Connacht down a player for the next 10 minutes.
By the time he returned, it was 41-7, as O’Brien kicked two early penalties at the start of the second half, before Dyer got in for a try of his own on 50 minutes, after a set-play strike which exposed some dreadful Connacht defence off a scrum.
It looked like Dragons had another try when Thomas Young crossed the line on 57 minutes, but it was called back for a forward pass by Dyer.
However, it was only a matter of time before they scored again, this time Dyer’s pass was spot on as he set up Hope for his second of the game.
With the win out of the question, Connacht only had pride and a bonus-point to play for, and two tries from Prendergast in an eight-minute spell gave them some hope heading into the final minutes.
And with the clock in the red, a series f penalties led to Jansen powering over for one final try, which sends Connacht back to Galway with a consolation bonus point.
