BRISTOL Bears delivered a late fightback to beat Dragons at Rodney Parade in their second pre-season outing of the campaign.
Pat Lam's men trailed 28-24 heading into the final quarter before three tries in five minutes from Harry Randall and Henry Purdy (2) sealed victory for the Bears.
But Dragons head coach Dean Ryan was keen to reflect on an impressive first half performance.
“You don't really know until you get out onto the field and some of our rugby in the first half and speed to turnover ball was outstanding,” he said.
“It was a shame that the last five minutes meant the score didn't really reflect the game, but we have loads to work on and loads to be pleased with.
“If we reviewed that game in the middle of a season, we would say that we have given a heavyweight side too much field position.
“We can sort that out while we ticked a few boxes in attack.”
The visitors ran in seven tries in total, with Bryan Byrne opening the scoring from a wellworked lineout on three minutes, only for Dragons to hit back immediately through full-back Angus O'Brien.
John Hawkins then saw yellow before Callum Sheedy and Rich Lane combined for the Bears' second.
Ollie Griffiths and then Sean Lonsdale crashed over to open up a nine-point lead for the home side, but James Williams capped his first start with a try, sliding off Whiteley's fizzing pass before ducking under the Dragons' covering defence, to make it a two-point game at the interval.
Dragons were quick out of the blocks in the second half and extended their lead courtesy of Bradley Roberts, who collected Lonsdale's inside pass to ghost through untouched.
Will Capon brought the Bears back within striking distance from another dominant lineout drive, before the returning Harry Randall set off on a trademark snipe around the fringes to score his side's fifth of the night and edge them in front for the first time in 50 minutes.
Purdy's scored an opportunist interception and there was still time for the winger to score off a chip and chase.
