The Islanders twice came from behind at Cross Keys to level the scores through tries by Mark McCrea and Jack Moates.
NG Dragons Select 30
Tries: L Jones, A Jones, Robson.
Cons: O’Brien (3)
Pens: O’Brien (4)
Jersey 27
Tries: McCrea, Moates, penalty try.
Cons:Penberthy (3)
Pens: Penberthy (2)
And the combined effort of the pack earned a second-half penalty try that looked set to clinch victory at Pandy Park.
Yet leading 27-23 as normal time ticked away, Jersey were caught with a classic counter-punch as Dragons claimed a length-of-the-field try to snatch a dramatic win.
Head coach Harvey Biljon said: ‘What a game of rugby. Obviously I’m disappointed we lost but I think we put in a hell of a performance.
‘We are disappointed not to have won a game yet but they were small margins. This is a very difficult place to come and play, with very difficult conditions. So I’m really proud of the shift the players put in.
‘We picked a pretty young team but we showed there are a lot of building blocks for us being put in place with that performance.’
However the loss could prove a knock-out for their cup ambitions, just a week after missing a late penalty to beat Doncaster Knights in the opening round.
But Biljon remains upbeat about his side’s chances and believes qualification could rest on their two games against Connacht Eagles next month.
He said: ‘We are definitely not in the driving seat but we still have a fair amount of rugby to play in this competition.
‘Make no mistake this is a strong competition and we are in a strong pool but let’s see what happens.
‘We have Connacht in back-to-back games so I think it depends on what happens there.’
In a cagey opening quarter it was the home side that started the strongest with outside-half Angus O’Brien ghosting past two defenders before passing for scrum-half Luc Jones to score.
Jersey hit back when winger McCrea out-paced former Wales international Aled Brew and then exchanged passes with Mark Cooke to run in unopposed under the posts. Aaron Penberthy’s conversion levelled the scores.
However, it was the tempo and speed of the home side that caused Jersey problems and a penalty in front of the posts handed O’Brien an easy three points.
On 29 minutes, after yet another period of sustained pressure, Dragon’s inside centre Adam Jones gathered an O’Brien cross kick to touch down for a try, which the latter converted.
After being under the cosh for large periods of the first half, Penberthy was successful with a long range penalty to cut the home side’s lead to seven. And as half-time approached Jersey’s defence held firm under a barrage of attack to limit the deficit to 17-10 at the break.
Jersey began the second forty the brighter after captain Pierce Phillips surged forward into the Dragons’ territory. He found scrum-half Moates in support to finish under the posts for a try. Penberthy equalized for the second time with the conversion.
The Dragons’ responded after a promising backs move, which led to O’Brien putting the home side back into the lead through a penalty.
Phillips, who was prominent all game, carried powerfully yet again into the opposition 22, forcing the hosts to concede another penalty, which Penberthy turned into points.
In what was developing into a ding dong battle, the Dragon’s hit straight back with another period of pressure on the Jersey try line, but had to make do with another O’Brien penalty.
The final quarter of the game saw the visitors’ pack of forwards get on top physically, with the Dragon’s beginning to fall off tackles.
It was the 67th minute when Jersey took a lineout from just outside the Dragon’s 22, before proceeding to maul their way all the way over the try line. The referee eventually awarding a penalty try.
Penberthy converted in front of the posts to put Jersey into a 23-27 lead, and within touching distance of their first ever victory on Welsh soil.
As the game approached its end point the Jersey pack were in complete control of proceedings, with the hosts finding it very difficult to halt the Championship side’s forward momentum.
However, deep into stoppage time Dragon’s scrum half Luc Jones took a quickly tapped penalty just 15 yards from his own try line.
Aaron Warren escaped Jersey’s clutches and raced clear along the touch line before slipping a scoring pass to Arwel Robson for the match-winner.
Dragon’s Select: R Jones (A Robson, 77); A Brew, B Nightingale, A Jones, A Warren; A O’Brien, L Jones, L Garret (R Cornock, 46), H Gustafson (capt) (TR Thomas, 56), L Brown, S Andrews, A Sweet (A Brown, 68), S Matthews (J Skinner, 63), J Benjamin, H Keddie.
Jersey: R Lane; M McCrea, R Owen, M Cooke (J Burroughs 61), O Evans (J Dudley, 72); A Penberthy, J Moates; S McCarthy (N Saenz-Lancuba, 61), N Selway (R Anderson, 50), O Tomaszczyk (B Featherstone 50), W Rowlands (T Spinks, 63), P Phillips (capt), J Freeman, G Graham, U Kolo’ofa’i (Rae, 67).
