Hooker Taylor Davies believes winning the decisive moments will be key for Dragons ahead of the URC clash with Edinburgh at Rodney Parade on Saturday afternoon.
The Scottish side travel to Newport in the first competitive URC fixture for five weeks following the international break.
Despite some impressive performances this season the Dragons enter the game with just the one win on the board after some narrow defeats in the opening few games.
On loan front row Davies believes winning the big decisive moments in games is vital to turn those narrow defeats into victories starting with a tough Edinburgh outfit on Saturday.
“I think we just need to do what we have been doing, I think it’s been working well for us we have scored some good tries and we are taking opportunities” said the Swansea born Davies.
“But what is letting us down is clinching those deciding moments where momentum swings and then seeing out the game, that is where we need to improve to turn those narrow losses into victories.
“I think we learnt that we have the confidence that we can beat teams, despite the results, the performances proved we can compete, but if we fall off for 10-15 minutes then we are stuck a few points behind and the opposition can scrape a victory.”
He continued “But I think we can go into the next couple of games confident, the last time we played Edinburgh we managed to win and that was a big scalp so hopefully we can do that in the next two games.
“Edinburgh are a good side, very strong set piece and a very good kicking game, they put the ball in the air and they compete very well.
“We need to focus on what we need to do in the game and stick to that game plan then I’m sure we can come away with the win.”
Dragons now face a big six weeks of action starting with a Scottish double header in the URC.
Dean Ryan’s men then head into Europe for the first time this season as they travel to France to take on Perpignan at the Stade Aime Giral before hosting Lyon at Rodney Parade a week later.
The big Christmas and New Year’s derbies follow in what is an important period of the Dragons season.
And Davies believes there are positives to take out of the first block of games despite just the one victory on the board.
The former Scarlets hooker insists Dragons can learn from those lessons heading into block two and start building momentum.
“I think it’s disappointing to only have the one victory but there is also a lot of positives we can take out of it, we have come really close in some games that we should have won” said Davies.
“There are obviously some areas we need to improve on and we are trying to improve on, to try and get the scoreboard in our favour. I think as a team we are playing quite well it’s just converting the performances into wins.
“One of our point of differences is the way we carry and come around the corner, that has been going well for us.
“We are working on other areas like arial game, ensuring we are putting the pressure on in the air and turning teams with attacking kicks, that is the sort of stuff we believe we can improve on and make it an advantage to us, to help us impose our game a lot easier.”
He continued “I think everyone’s ambition here is to just win every game, we are confident and we know we can come away with victories we just need to make sure we do that now.
“Obviously going out to France will be tough but I believe the way we play we can really target those teams and be competitive, it should be an exciting few weeks ahead.”
