Despite a bright opening half Connacht fell to a disappointing 35-22 defeat at the hands of the Dragons at the Sportsgrounds in their third game of the United Rugby Championship on Saturday night.

The boot of Jack Carty pushed the home side into an early lead with two penalties before Sam Davies replied with three points of his own mid way through the first half.

An unconverted Jonah Holmes try would give the visitors a slender lead but another brace of penalties from Carty, immediately after a yellow card for Dragon's scrum half Rhodri Williams, would push the westerners back into a 12-8 lead at the half-time break.

It was a different Welsh side that emerged for the second half with an early try from Jordan Williams which was converted by Davies who had a fine performance from the kicking tee throughout the second half.

Mesake Doge, who featured for his native Fiji against the All Blacks earlier this year; barged over the line for another try just moments later, before Davies added the conversion.

There was a bright spark for Connacht as a looped pass from Carty found Mack Hansen and the Australian ripped through the Dragon's defence to score his second try of the season.

Dragons continued to prove flawless from the kicking tee and Davies continued his fine form with the boot with a long penalty to give the Welsh team an eight-point lead with less than twenty minutes left on the clock.

The Welsh side completed their bonus point victory when Jonah Holmes touched down for a second try when he pounced on a bouncing ball to score. Davies once again with the conversion to put the Dragons 32-17 ahead.

Replacement Conor Fitzgerald would give the home side some late hope when he gathered Sam Arnold's offload to add another score but the game was settled when Davies scored a penalty to complete the scoring

Connacht knew they had to go in search for tries to attempt to mount a comeback in the remaining ten minutes and they started that period well when Fitzgerald fielded Sammy Arnold’s beautiful offload to touch down to take the score to 22-32.

A late Dragon's penalty completed the scoring to see the Dragon's leapfrog their hosts in the United Rugby Championship table.