Newport Gwent Dragons 28 Cardiff Blues 15:The Welsh region to contest this season's Magners League play-offs will go down to the final weekend after Cardiff Blues were defeated by Newport Gwent Dragons.
The Blues' failure to take anything, even a losing bonus point, from their delayed St Stephen’s Day derby with the Dragons means they stay just one point ahead of the Ospreys in fourth place.
The top of the standings are dominated by Irish provinces with Munster leading, Leinster second and Ulster third as the battle for one of the fourth play-off places comes to a head.
And, with the top four contesting the play-offs, the tension will be high next weekend as the Blues face another tough Welsh derby at The Scarlets while the Ospreys will be going all-out for a bonus-point win at basement side Aironi.
The Blues wanted to wrap things up at Newport but the Dragons had other ideas and threw a spanner in the works right from the start.
It was also a red letter day for teenager Steffan Jones, drafted in from Cross Keys to cover for the Dragons' crisis at full-back.
The scoring star in the Welsh Premiership went over for a debut try on seven minutes when he burst through a gap in the Blues' defence between fullback Dan Fish and lock Bradley Davies to dive over in the corner.
And he grabbed a late penalty from 50 metres which helped to deny the Blues a losing bonus point.
Jones' early try reclaimed the lead for the Dragons after outhalf Dan Parks had landed the first points of the afternoon with a penalty.
And on 14 minutes, Dragons wing Aled Brew created a slice of history. His 16th try of the season came after a cross-kick from stand-off Jason Tovey was beaten down by six-foot-nine-inch lock Luke Charteris into the Wales international's hands for an easy run-in from five metres.
That try meant Brew broke the record for the most tries by any player since Welsh rugby went regional.
The feisty nature of the match saw New Zealand number eight Xavier Rush and Dragons flanker Gavin Thomas trade punches during a midfield brawl, but the only action taken by referee James Jones was a stiff word with both captains.
Tovey kicked the Dragons further into the lead but, when home lock Adam Jones was sent to the sin-bin for preventing the ball from coming out of a ruck on his line, the Blues got back into the match.
Flanker Sam Warburton immediately grabbed a try from a pick-up and drive by Rush at an attacking scrum and, after the break, a line-out take five metres out by replacement lock Deiniol Jones saw the Blues pack drive over the line and Rush come up with the ball.
That levelled matters at 15-15 as the Blues took advantage of a lacklustre return to the field by the Dragons and the Cardiff outfit looked favourites to win.
But they lost the momentum and, despite dominating the scrums, they could not get over the line again.
The Dragons reclaimed the lead when a lineout within metres of the Blues' line saw Charteris take the throw and he helped his pack drive replacement back-rower Andrew Coombs over for a converted try.
That made it 22-15 but Steffan Jones' booming 50-metre penalty gave the Dragons a 10-point gap.
And scrumhalf Wayne Evans put the cherry on the cake for the home side with a drop-goal from 10 metres right at the death.
