Newport Gwent Dragons 12 Bath 15: Stuart Hooper's try with 13 minutes to go secured victory at Rodney Parade and guided Bath top of Pool five in the Heineken Cup with one group match left to play.

Glasgow's shock win in Toulouse has opened up the door for Steve Meehan's to hit the front.

But this pool will go down to the wire with the Frenchmen heading to the Recreation Ground on Sunday.

Bath held a slender lead at the break of their penultimate Heineken Cup pool match against Newport Gwent Dragons at Rodney Parade this afternoon.

The Guinness Premiership side were handicapped by centre Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu staying on the field despite being injured but opened the scoring on six minutes.

Good interplay by the forwards made the initial in-roads before fly-half Butch James' long pass allowed wing Joe Maddock to dive over.

Fuimaono-Sapolu was actually the next player waiting to receive the pass when Maddock touched down but was replaced by Shontayne Hape on seven minutes.

But Bath were playing like a team who were 20 points ahead and didn't add to their early score until James kicked a penalty on 27 minutes.

Dragons had second row and skipper Luke Charteris sent to the sin bin a minute later but Bath still couldn't unlock the Welsh side's defence.

Former Australian lock Justin Harrison was playing the pantomime villain in the closing stages of the half and frustrated the Rodney Parade partisan crowd.

The veteran dislocated a finger – which was put back in place on the field by the Bath physio – after a fracas with Dragons hooker Steve Jones.

But the visitors had to start the second half a player short after second row Stuart Hooper was yellow carded for a professional foul.

Bath were reduced to 13 men three minutes after the break when No 8 Daniel Browne was sin binned for not rolling away.

The Dragons failed to cross the line after pounding the Bath defence soon after but they did add a try on 45 minutes when a lucky bounce went wing Richard Fussell's way following a fly-half James Alridge kick. Alridge converted.

Bath were given a let off on 50 minutes when Ashley Smith's speculative overhead pass to James Tovey was ruled forward.

But the Dragons claimed the lead for the first time in the match on the hour when flanker James Scaysbrook spilled possession and scrum-half Wayne Evans dived on the loose ball.

Centre Alex Crockett led from the front to take Bath back into the lead on 67 minutes, shrugging off the tackles in a 40 metre run.

Browne then seemed destined for the try line but was pulled down seven metres short by Evans before Hooper timed his run to perfection and received a pass off the floor to touch down. James converted.

Bath were put under the cosh in the closing stages and had another lucky escape on 75 minutes when Alridge missed a drop goal attempt.