European dreams ended at the semi-final stage for brave Dragons as they were edged out by Top 14 giants Montpellier Herault Rugby in a titanic tussle at Septeo Stadium in France.
Away wins in the knockout stages over Stade Francais in Paris and Zebre in Parma had earned the Men of Gwent a fourth European semi-final showdown.
Filo Tiatia’s team were aiming to go one better than 2007, 2015 and 2016 when they were beaten by Montferrand, Edinburgh and Montpellier.
But two-time winners Montpellier were their nemesis again in a physical and absorbing encounter that went to the final minute.
Centre Aneurin Owen grabbed a first half score as the French side took a slender lead to the interval.
Owen grabbed a second score late on as Dragons showed incredible spirit and work rate to push the home side all the way before Montpellier booked a final place in Bilbao later this month.
Tiatia made six changes to the side that defeated Zebre in the league last weekend as Dragons headed to France to tackle the top seeds. Niall Armstrong, David Richards and Fine Inisi returned in the backs while the pack was boosted by Elliot Dee, Ryan Woodman and Chris Coleman.
Dragons could have made a dream start inside 90 seconds as a pop pass from Owen off the lineout sent Richards bursting through a gap but his offload to Young agonisingly just failed to find hands.
Montpellier were bringing their traditional physical approach to the opening ten minutes with big runners in midfield and a penalty allowed Thomas Vincent to open the scoring.
Carter and Wainwright combined brilliantly to wrap powerful runners and win back ball before a scrum penalty allowed O’Brien to keep deep as Dragons looked to build a platform.
Young had to be alert to mop up danger after Vincent intelligently kicked into space and then the flanker won a crucial turnover and penalty after Montpellier looked to punch a driving maul over.
Dyer twice disrupted the home side in the air as Dragons went to the skies before the game’s looked like it had an opening try.
Tinus de Beer looked set to break away down the left, but the pass was intercepted and Montpellier kept the ball alive and went over with centre Lennox Anyanwu making the line.
However, the TMO ruled it out for superb work from Dyer who did incredibly to hold the ball up over the line.
Montpellier, though, were not to be denied a minute later slick handling sent Vincent into space and he fed lock Tyler Duguid to score the opener.
De Beer’s running game was causing the home side issues as he again found space and ghosted past men before Owen won a crucial penalty that was sent to the corner.
A kick in behind from Armstrong saw Banks shunted back and loose the ball as he was tackled by Richards for Owen to dot down and score.
A tap and go penalty from De Beer sent Richard racing down the right wing as Dragons looked to keep the tempo high when they had ball.
Vincent pushed a penalty wide right before the break but made amends in injury time with another as Dragons trailed 13-5 at the interval.
Dyer showed his alertness and pace to dot down a kick through at the start of the second half as Montpellier came out like a train to force Dragons to play from deep.
A scrum penalty saw the hosts kick to the corner and turn to their trademark driving game, but brilliant maul defence saw them held out.
Seb Davies and Harri Keddie were introduced with half an hour to go as Dragons weathered the storm at the start of the second period.
A rare handling mistake from Donovan Taofifenua gave Dragons an attacking platform but the kick from De Beer ran dead as Richards chased it down.
A sublime attack from deep saw Dragons secure huge yards and when the ball was worked inside the hosts lost Nika Abuladze to the sin bin for a deliberate knock on.
But despite being down a man, the home side struck a killer blow with 13 minutes left when scrum half Alexis Bernadet spotted a gap and dived over.
Dragons needed a response quickly and a penalty on the floor gave them the chance they needed as a superb line from Owen saw him power over for his second of the game.
A late flurry of action saw Dragons push for a late try to win then game, but Montpellier were not to be denied as they booked a place in Bilbao.
Timeline:
10m Vincent p 3-0
25m Duguid t Vincent c 10-0
31m Owen t 10-5
40m Vincent p 13-5
67m Bernadet t 18-5
75m Owen t O’Brien c 18-12
Montpellier: Tom Banks, Donovan Taofifenua, Auguste Cadot, Lennox Anyanwu, Melvyn Rates, Thomas Vincent, Alexis Bernadet; Baptiste Erdocio, Ricky Riccitelli, Valentin Welsch, Adam Beard, Tyler DuGuid, Marco Tauleigne, Alex Becognee, Lenni Nouchi
Replacements: Lyam Akrab, Nika Abuladze, Mohamed Haouas, Yacouba Camara, Alex Masibaka, Tom Baraer, Domingo Miotti, Thomas Darmon
Dragons RFC: Angus O’Brien, David Richards (Anderson 69), Fine Inisi (Paea 60), Aneurin Owen, Rio Dyer, Tinus de Beer, Niall Armstrong (Lloyd 64); Rodrigo Martinez (Jones 57), Elliot Dee (Coghlan 57), Chris Coleman (Lewis 57), Levi Douglas (Davies 45), Ben Carter, Ryan Woodman (Keddie 51), Thomas Young, Aaron Wainwright
Replacements: Brodie Coghlan, Wyn Jones, Dillon Lewis, Seb Davies, Harrison Keddie, Morgan Lloyd, Fetuli Paea, Huw Anderson
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
