"At 24-18, I thought we had the chance to go on and win the game," said Powell. "We got a bit of a tough call, it was a ball steal on Tony Clubb. I've said this before, we won't hang our hat on a decision that's made that's going to cost you a game. Clearly 24-0 at half time is our fault and we're in control of that.

"But at that particular moment we had all the momentum and we lost it at that point. When we get a call that goes the wrong way, we've got to be able to get on with it, but it was a disappointing time for it to happen. At that point if we'd have had another six, we probably would have scored and could have kicked on and won the game."

Powell sprang another surprise with his team selection by including Academy player Will Lovell in the 17. Lovell, from Northampton, is a 6ft 4ins centre who switched from rugby union at the age of 14 and the 19-year-old has been with the club ever since, bringing the number of home grown players in the line up to eight.

The Broncos had all the early pressure and should have opened their account when a kick from Craig Gower was deflected into the path of an unmarked Antonio Kaufusi in front of the posts but the prop knocked on as he attempted to touch down.

Both sides were guilty of coughing up possession in a scrappy opening 10 minutes but on the Catalan's first real attack they made it count when Lopini Paea latched onto an inside pass from Scott Dureau to crash over. Two minutes later a fumble by the Broncos at a 20 metre re-start gifted possession to the Dragons and Leon Pryce proved unstoppable on his way to the line.

Dureau converted both for a 12-0 lead and consecutive penalties put the Dragons on the attack again. Despite some valiant defending, the Broncos eventually cracked, Remi Casty scambling over and being awarded a try by the video referee with Dureau adding the extras.

The Londoners looked to have got their first points on the board when Kieran Dixon soared above two defenders to pluck a steepling kick to the corner out of the air and touch down. Unfortunately the video referee ruled that the ball had touched a Catalan player before the grounding and the try was disallowed.

The Broncos continued to get themselves into promising positions but were often let down by poor handling. Just before half time the French side went further ahead when Steve Menzies gathered a neat chip ahead from Dureau and offloaded to Pryce who touched down under the posts. Dureau made it 24 points without reply at the interval.

The Broncos got off to the best possible start early in the second half when they seized on a loose ball and Kaufusi dived over by the posts. Shane Rodney added the extras and it got even better five minutes later when Mark Bryant managed to offload brilliantly to Ben Bolger enabling the young forward to crash over by the posts to give Rodney another simple conversion.

The Broncos were looking a much more determined outfit in the second half and when Jason Baitieri was sin binned for a late challenge on Gower they immediately took advantage. Chad Randall, who had come off the bench, darted over from dummy half and Rodney's third conversion brought his side to within six points going into the final quarter.

However a couple of penalties enabled the Dragons to march upfield where they forced a goal line drop out and a further penalty resulted in Casty going over for his second try and Dureau making it 30-18. The Broncos looked to hit back, Rodney losing possession as he dived over the line, but almost immediately the Frenchmen marched up field and a neat inside ball from Pryce saw Menzies touchdown.

Jamal Fakir added another soon after and Dureau made it seven conversions out of seven to wrap up the contest.