Winger Maxime Medard grabbed two tries as Toulouse recorded their fourth straight victory in this season's competition
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Match Pack: Bath rally for bonus point win

Matches: Dragons 13 - 26 Toulouse

Tournaments/Tours: Heineken Cup | Heineken Cup

Teams: France | Wales

Toulouse maintained their push for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals with a 26-13 victory over the Dragons in their Pool 5 clash at Rodney Parade.

Maxime Medard scored the first try of the game after just three minutes to give the visitors the lead and David Skrela's conversion cemented that advantage. The French Top 14 side then turned the screw with three penalties from replacement Frederic Michalak

But the Dragons battled back into the game with a try from Rhys Thomas just past the half hour mark that was converted by fly-half James Arlidge and the Japan international added a penalty to keep the home side in touch going into the break.

Toulouse had to dig deep after the break and Cedric Heymans scored their second try just two minutes into the half. Arlidge then pulled three more points back before Medard grabbed his second score to seal the win.

The fact the French giants, Heineken Cup winners in 1996, 2003 and 2005, failed to claim a valuable bonus point owed everything to a Dragons pack that worked itself to a standstill, denying Toulouse time and time again.

The Dragons had endured a difficult week after their former Northampton centre Marc Stcherbina suffered a serious neck injury during last Saturday's 26-7 defeat in Toulouse.

Stcherbina, who underwent surgery as a result, is now in a Bristol hospital after returning home from France by air ambulance on Thursday. He was replaced at inside centre by Ashley Smith. Toulouse, meanwhile, paraded their traditional galaxy of international stars as they targeted a fourth successive group victory in the quest for yet another Heineken Cup quarter-final appearance.

And Toulouse took less than four minutes to cut the Dragons' defence open as Skrela's floated pass found Medard, who nonchalently kicked ahead and gathered a kind bounce. Skrela converted in his final act before going off injured after being on the receiving end of a crunching tackle from Dragons No.8 Joe Bearman.

Michalak merely took up the baton from Skrela though, booting three penalties during a 15-minute spell that saw Toulouse effortlessly move 16-0 ahead. The Dragons were in danger of suffering a thumping defeat, yet their response stirred the Rodney Parade faithful, and they trooped off at half-time firmly back in contention.

Bearman's lineout catch and pass created sufficient space for Thomas to crash over, before the Wales prop came agonisingly close to claiming another try, but he knocked on while crossing Toulouse's line.

An Arlidge conversion and penalty slashed the interval deficit to just six points, raising expectations the Dragons could add another significant French scalp to their Heineken Cup collection after defeating Stade Francais, Perpignan and Castres in previous European campaigns. But Heymans and Medard - two of the European game's deadliest finishers - struck during a third quarter when Toulouse seemed capable of just flicking a switch when they needed to.

At 26-13 adrift, the Dragons found themselves facing a damage-limitation exercise, yet they could not escape from suffocating Toulouse pressure, and Medard's pace continued to cause them major problems.

Referee Alain Rolland lectured rival captains Tom Willis and Yannick Jauzion following a late dust-up involving several players, but he opted against brandishing any cards, Toulouse having inflicted their punishment where it mattered most - on the scoreboard.

Toulouse's victory piles the pressure on pool rivals Bath who travel to Firhill on Sunday to take on Glasgow. Assuming Bath triumph at Firhill tomorrow, Toulouse's trip to Bath next month will decide the group.

Toulouse boss Guy Noves saw plenty of room for improvement following his side's latest triumph. "I thought we had a problem with our scrum at times, and we had a very bad 10 minutes at the end of the first half. But it is a good win for us, even if we did miss out on a bonus point, it was a difficult game, and we are quite happy with the outcome.

"We now have to wait for the result of the Bath game against Glasgow tomorrow, and then we can go fro there."

Newport Gwent Dragons coach Paul Turner was left to reflect on "too many small errors" after his team's Heineken Cup hopes were effectively ended for another season.

"We talked all week about being efficient in the contact area, but we weren't efficient enough during the first 20 minutes. We got back into the game after that, but one or two decisions went against us in the contact area and I felt it was a bit of a smash and grab, really. I am really proud of the effort - it was a brave performance.

"We mixed it with the best team in Europe, but we just made too many small errors at key moments. I don't think the scoreline was a fair reflection."

Despite losing the game, the Dragons received a lift before kick-off when their stricken centre Marc Stcherbina arrived at the ground to speak with his team-mates. Stcherbina suffered a serious neck injury during the Dragons' 26-7 defeat in Toulouse last Saturday, undergoing surgery in France before flying home by air ambulance yesterday.

Turner added: "I spoke to Marc this morning, and he wanted to come down and see his fellow players. It was all quite emotional."

Newport Gwent Dragons: J Tovey; G Wyatt, R Sidey, A Smith, T Selley; S Connor, W Evans; A Black, T Willis [capt], R Thomas, A Jones, L Charteris, H MacDonald, C Charvis, J Bearman

Replacements: S Jones, G Robinson, D Lydiate, J Ringer, R Lewis, R Gomer-Davies, P Dollman

Toulouse: C Poitrenaud; M Medard, F Fritz, Y Jauzion [capt], C Heymans; D Skrela, B Kelleher; J Poux, W Servat, B Lecouls, F Pelous, P Albacete, Y Nyanga, T Dusautoir, S Sowerby

Replacements: V Lacombe, D Human, G Lamboley, J Bouilhou, F Michalak, G du Toit, S Perugini

Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

Attendance: 6,108