The Newport Gwent Dragons moved up to second place in the Magners League, getting back to winning ways with an exciting 30-19 victory over Glasgow Warriors at Rodney Parade on Friday.

Glasgow Warriors’ winning start to the season was ended by the determined Dragons who got a headstart with two converted tries inside the opening quarter-hour.

Both sides came into this game in good form – the Warriors were in a buoyant mood after home wins over Munster and the Scarlets, and the Dragons, round one winners over Ulster, gave European champions Leinster a serious test in Dublin last weekend.

With Tom Willis and Luke Charteris both out injured, centre Ashley Smith captained a Dragons side that welcomed back Joe Bearman at number 8 and All Black scrum half Danny Lee gained a bench spot.

Unbeaten Glasgow made six changes to the team that started the 19-11 triumph over the Scarlets last Sunday.

Colin Shaw and Mark McMillan came into the back-line, while Jon Welsh (rested) and Moray Low (ankle injury) were replaced by Justin Va’a and Ed Kalman in the front row.

Scotland ‘A’ duo Dan Turner and Calum Forrester were added to the second row and back row respectively, taking over from Alastair Kellock and Kelly Brown.

Glasgow’s hopes for a strong start were dashed, however, when Dragons number 10 James Arlidge intercepted a pass in midfield and ran all the way to the posts from halfway, adding the conversion for a 7-0 lead after just two minutes.

Roared on by the home faithful, Paul Turner’s charges cranked it up in attack and added two further first half tries.

Glasgow’s only replies came from two Dan Parks penalties as the Dragons led 19-6 by the midpoint of the half.

Stand-in skipper Smith and his centre partner Tom Riley combined to set up supporting full-back Jason Tovey for a well-taken second try, which Arlidge converted.

Parks nailed a terrific 55-metre penalty in response, but from the restart the Dragons controlled possession before the influential Riley sent winger Aled Brew through for an unconverted score.

Just when it looked like the Dragons might run away with the game, the Warriors hit back when a silky run from winger Colin Shaw saw him touch down close to the points for a much-needed seven pointer.

Tovey and Parks traded penalties before half-time, leaving the hosts with a 22-16 buffer, but Glasgow increased the pressure on the restart when Parks landed his fourth successful penalty.

A Tovey penalty steadied the Dragons, bumping their lead back to six points and their bonus point try arrived just three minutes later.

The men of Gwent’s second win in three league games was sealed by a deserved try for the hard-working Smith.

Glasgow were cut open when Richard Fussell gobbled up a loose kick and jinked his way into the danger area. Arlidge planted a grubber kick towards the right corner and Smith won the race to the ball.

The Glasgow forwards plugged away as they tried to inspire a comeback, making some decent headway.

But a number of errors and poor decision-making ruined their chances of further tries and their fight for a losing bonus point was ended in injury-time when prop Va’a was sin-binned for a scrum offence.