London Irish enjoyed their second comprehensive European Cup win in as many weeks running in six tries to beat Newport Gwent Dragons 45-17 in a one-sided match at Rodney Parade.

The win leaves the Exiles sitting pretty at the top of pool one with 10 points from their first two matches following up their seven try, bonus point win over Benetton Treviso with another impressive performance in Wales.

Although the Dragons had the first chance to put points on the board with Ceri Sweeney seeing his penalty kicked cut across the goal after bouncing off the left post, it was the Exiles who made the better start to the match.

The confidence instilled in the Reading-based side after their seven-try win began to pay off when Peter Hewat slotted over his first kick of the day after Ceri Sweeney was penalised for failing to move out of Peter Richards way.

The penalty quickly opened the flood gates for London Irish as they ran away with the man scoring four converted tries in the next 20 minutes to secure their bonus point just before the half hour mark.

Hewat, who has impressed in his opening matches since joining from NSW Waratahs in the off season, set up the first try by finding putting up a high looping pass for Thomas De Vedia to collect on the right wing before touching down in the corner.

Hewat added the extras before De Vedia quickly added his second. Richards, in control of the game for 60 minutes before being brought off, found Delon Armitage, who chipped upfield before setting off on the chase. A shocking error from Kevin Morgan, who failed to collect the ball, allowed De Vedia an easy catch before the Argentine fell over the line for the second try.

Just two more minutes were on the clock before the Exiles got their third when Tonga Lea'aetoa picked up from the bottom of the ruck before finding Catt on his inside and the captain had an easy run in for the try unchallenged.

The Dragons finally got themselves on the board as Catt was penalised for taking the Dragons out in the air allowing Sweeney to kick for the three points.

But in was only a temporary respite for the hosts as Delon Armitage extended the Exiles lead just five minutes later using his strength to stretch out for the touch down after receiving the ball from Hewat, despite both Richard Mustoe and Rhodri Gomer Davies hanging on to him.

Hewat again added the extras before the Dragons snatched a consolation try on the stroke of half time when Michael Owen leapt over the top of a ruck to touch down and Sweeney added the conversion.

Hewat had the chance to extend the Exiles lead with the last kick of the half, Catt putting his fullback forward to kick for the points from the halfway line. But the Australian missed his only kick of the game not quite having the distance.

The Dragons started the second half in much the same vein as they had played the first making sloppy handling errors and giving away possession to the Exiles.

While the second half was nowhere near as good as the first half from the visitors they did manage to extend their lead in the 48th minute again courtesy of a handling error from the hosts.

A poor lineout from the Dragons allowed Sailosi Tagicakibau to boot the loose ball upfield before setting off in pursuit. Tagicakibau collected the ball and found Seilala Mapusua on his outside, who made a brilliant offload to Nick Kennedy in the tackle, before the six foot eight inch second row ran over the line unchallenged.

Hewat again added the conversion and, although the Dragons scored a second try getting lucky when Steve Jones was judged to have touched down by the TMO despite clearly using a double movement to get the ball over the line, the win was already assured before Armitage secured his second try of the day intercepting an Andrew Williams pass before jogging in again unchallenged just before the final whistle.

Benetton Treviso 17-29 Perpignan

Perpignan recovered from a first half deficit to record the second win of their European Cup campaign and maintain the pressure on London Irish at the top of pool one.

The hosts, who shipped seven tries against Irish last weekend, had threatened to cause an upset early in the first half holding a three point lead at the interval thanks to the boot of Marius Goosen and a try from Benjamin De Jager.

But Perpignan added three second half tries through Damien Chouly, Adrien Plante and Mickael Ladhuile to the one scored by Viliami Vaki in the first half to overpower Treviso.

Pippa Davis / Eurosport