Kevin Pietersen was a special guest yesterday, but the England cricket captain must have left the Recreation Ground hoping that his players do not squander as many chances in their $1 million-a-man match in Antigua in a fortnight’s time as the home team did here. Bath, attempting to shake the frustration of last week’s last-gasp pool five defeat away to Toulouse out of their system, were happy enough in the end just to take the four points.

Michael Lipman dropped the ball with the line at his mercy on the half-hour, a brilliant tackle by Phillip Dollman denied Jonny Fa’amatuainu five minutes later after a searing break by Matt Banahan up the middle and Banahan would also have scored had he held the bouncing ball after a chip and chase early in the second half.

Newport Gwent Dragons, heroic in their tackling throughout, held on grimly as Bath dominated possession and territory, and just after the hour mark they drove Rhys Thomas, the prop, all but over the Bath line after a series of attacking rucks.

The home side renewed their efforts and, in the 71st minute, the decision to take two scrums from penalties awarded in front of the posts found reward when a long pass to the left freed Andrew Higgins for the only try of the game.

Even then, the Dragons set up two long-range penalty goals with powerful upfield thrusts and Shaun Connor, the replacement fly half, kicked both with superb strikes to narrow Bath’s winning margin to four points.

“We deserved that bonus point,” Paul Turner, the Dragons head coach, said. “We know that to beat Bath you have to defend really securely and take any chance that comes your way. That was our best defensive performance in my three years at the club, but we couldn’t score when we had our one opportunity.”

Steve Meehan, the Bath head coach, said: “Mentally we were not sharp enough and although we played some good rugby, we needed to nail it. We got turned over in their 22 too often.”

Pietersen, a guest of Nigel Laughton, the Bath director of rugby operations who used to manage English cricket’s National Academy, would not have been alone in expecting a comfortable victory for Bath, but if England’s cricketers are to secure Allen Stanford’s pot of cash on November 1 then they must remember not to take anything for granted.

Scorers: Bath: Try: Higgins (71min). Conversion: James. Penalty goals: James 2 (13, 26). Newport Gwent Dragons: Penalty goals: Arlidge (41), Connor 2 (76, 80+3).

Scoring sequence (Bath first): 3-0, 6-0, (half-time), 6-3, 13-3, 13-6, 13-9.

Bath: N Abendanon; J Maddock, A Crockett (rep: S Hape, 80), S Berne, M Banahan (rep: A Higgins, 65); A James, M Claassens (rep: S Bemand, 40+3); D Flatman (rep: D Barnes, 50), L Mears (rep: P Dixon, 65), M Stevens, J Harrison (rep: J Scaysbrook, 65), P Short, S Hooper, M Lipman, J Fa’amatuainu.

Newport Gwent Dragons: P Dollman; G Wyatt, R Sidey (rep: A Smith, 74), M Stcherbina, R Fussell; J Arlidge (rep: S Connor, 74), W Evans (rep: R Lewis, 79); A Black, T Willis, R Thomas, A Jones (rep: A Hall, 74), L Charteris, J Bearman, C Charvis (sin-bin, 27-37), L Evans (sin-bin, 52-62; rep: G Webb 74).

Referee: C Damasco (Italy).

Attendance: 10,600.