Boss Dean Ryan has told his Dragons squad to expect a physical and demanding fortnight in training - even though the Heineken Champions Cup double-header has been temporarily suspended.
The Gwent-based region were scheduled to host Bordeaux-Begles in the top-tier tournament at Rodney Parade on Sunday before rounding off the pool stages at Wasps a week on Saturday.
However, both the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup fixtures have now been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
But despite the lack of games in the coming weeks, Ryan has vowed Dragons have plenty of work ahead of them before the resumption of Guinness PRO14 action in February.
“We will train and we will train physically in this period,” said the Director of Dragons Rugby.
“We have guys hopefully going off to international duty at the end of January and we have got lots to get better at that we will be working on.
“We were planning for playing in Europe; now we are working hard to be ready for the Guinness PRO14.”
Dragons headed into the derby period after back-to-back away wins against Benetton and Glasgow.
However, they suffered three battling losses that leaves them fourth in Conference A, eight points behind the Ospreys with a game in hand.
Ryan recognises the challenges his side face and admits Zebre defeating Benetton Rugby coinciding with Dragons missing an opportunity against the Ospreys.
“We recognise the challenges we face, but at the moment we are planning to work hard for the PRO14 games,” said Ryan.
“Ospreys was quite a pivotal moment, now we have to work harder. Zebre won which has put some pressure on.
“If the EPCR decision is to take it to eight qualifiers next season then we are very much in that position. But we missed an opportunity against Ospreys, we are very aware of that.”
He continued: “We missed an opportunity against Ospreys to take a step closer to playing Champions Cup rugby next year.
“We’re now going to have to fight harder in those games we’ve got left.”
Dragons are next in action on Friday, February 5 when they entertain Connacht in the Guinness PRO14 before they host Edinburgh at Rodney Parade the following week.
We were planning for playing in Europe; now we are working hard to be ready for the Guinness PRO14...
