Cardiff Rugby beat the Dragons RFC with a 31-23 bonus point victory at the Arms Park extending their winning streak to 19 matches.
Tries from Alex Mann, Harri Millard, Callum Sheedy and Rey Lee-Lo set the stage for what looked like a comfortable victory, only for the Dragons to show some late resolve with scores through Morgan Lloyd and Aki Seiuli.
The final 10 minutes of the first half saw Cardiff turn things around. First, replacement back-row Alex Mann forced his way over from close range after Cardiff's driving maul had been repelled illegally just short.
Remarkably for the man who scored two tries in his first two Tests for Wales earlier this year, this was the first time the 22-year-old crossed for Cardiff.
The home side lost second-row Josh McNally to the sin-bin shortly after, but they'd still finish the half further ahead. Dragons hooker Brodie Coughlan levelled up the teams after copping a yellow card for offside.
With each side a man down, Ben Thomas found Millard with a long pass - allowing the wing to cut back inside some would-be tacklers to dive over.
Josh Adams, who had shown some understandable signs of rust early on after six months out of action, got a chance to run into some space early in the second half - bursting into the Dragons' 22 from a scrum.
The home side didn't panic, with Wales full-back Cameron Winnett - perhaps the pick of the bunch across the two teams - keeping his cool to put Sheedy over in the corner after a neat dummy pass.
As the Dragons' discipline faltered, Cardiff moved further ahead. A well-worked move from a tap penalty saw Thomas Young put Lee-Lo over for the bonus point score.
At that point, you were fearing just how many points Cardiff might rack up, with memories of the 55-21 victory last Boxing Day still fresh in the mind.
Despite looking comfortable, Cardiff didn't pull ahead any further. And when replacement scrum-half Lloyd sold a dummy to Wales prop Kieron Assiratti before racing away to score just after the hour-mark, things started to get a little nervy around the Arms Park.
And then, heading into the final 10 minutes, Lloyd again showed his eye for a gap, setting up the field position for the Dragons to get right back into the match. From a penalty, Taine Basham went close before prop Seiuli forced his way over to close the gap to eight points.
However, that's where the comeback ended, with Cardiff holding on for that 19th victory in a row against their nearest rivals.
Scorers:
Cardiff Rugby: Tries: Alex Mann, Harri Millard, Callum Sheedy, Rey Lee-Lo. Conversions: Callum Sheedy (4). Penalty: Callum Sheedy.
Dragons RFC: Tries: Morgan Lloyd, Aki Seiuli. Conversions: Angus O’Brien (2). Penalties: Angus O’Brien (4).
Teams
Cardiff Rugby: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Ben Thomas (c), 11 Harri Millard, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Alun Lawrence, 7 Thomas Young, 6 Ben Donnell, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Daf Hughes, 1 Ed Byrne. Replacements: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Rhys Litterick, 19 Seb Davies, 20 Alex Mann, 21 Ellis Bevan, 22 Rory Jennings, 23 Gabriel Hamer-Webb.
Dragons RFC: 15 Angus O’Brien (c), 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Joe Westwood, 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Jared Rosser, 10 Lloyd Evans, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Taine Basham, 6 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 5 George Nott, 4 Matthew Screech, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Brodie Coghlan, 1 Rodrigo Martinez. Replacements: 16 James Benjamin, 17 Aki Seiuli, 18 Dmitri Arhip, 19 Joe Davies, 20 Ryan Woodman, 21 Morgan Lloyd, 22 Harry Wilson, 23 Huw Anderson.