Cardiff Blues were riding high having won their last four games and were looking to complete the double over their rivals from the east.
Nicky Robinson missed an early difficult penalty attempt with the rain falling on Rodney Parade, but despite the conditions it was the Blues who showed adventure in the early stages.
Martyn Williams picked up the ball in his own twenty two and made a break before passing on to Rhys Williams who took the ball up to the Dragons half. He passed on to Chris Czekaj who in turn threw an inside pass to scrum half Mike Phillips to run over and score under the post.
Robinson converted and kicked a penalty a few minutes later to bring the score to 0-10. Craig Warlow was controlling the game for the Dragons and a kick to the corner saw the blues camped on their own line. The Blues threw the ball to the back of the line but it was Michael Owen who clung on to the ball and cross for the Dragons first try converted by Warlow.
The Blues struck back minutes later when Nicky Robinson dropped a goal. The crowd at Rodney Parade were very passionate and the game was never dirty but very physical. Cardiff Blues had a few chances to increase their lead with the forwards pressurising the Dragons on their try line however the Dragons defence stood firm and the score at the break was 10-13
Half Time: Newport Gwent Dragons 10 Cardiff Blues 13
Michael Owen had been sin binned just before half time and just after the break Robert Sidoli was sent to the bin for pulling a player down in the line out.
The game got a bit scrappy in the second half but the Blues nearly scored again when a Nicky Robinson cross field kick bounced awkwardly for chris Czekaj who just failed to gather metres short of the try line. The young winger did not have to wait long as Xavier Rush drove up field before the ball was distributed through the back to the right for Czekaj to score in the corner.
They nearly scored again minutes later but as Mike Phillips was tackled he just failed to release the ball to the three players who were unmarked outside him who would have certainly have scored.
The Dragons closed the gap to five points when Craig Warlow kicked a penalty Nicky Robinson narrowly missed with a penalty and with only minutes left the dragons were awarded a penalty. They chose to kick for the three points rather than the corner and go for the try but Warlow missed and ensured that the final minutes would be very tense.
Cardiff Blues managed to hang on to their lead which meant they moved up to third place and had won five out of the six matches against Welsh opposition.