Captain Rhodri Williams wants Dragons to embrace the challenge of the next few months after the confidence boosting win against Glasgow Warriors in Scotland.
The scrum half was instrumental in the win at Scotstoun Stadium, controlling the game at half back alongside partner in crime and man of the match Sam Davies.
Dragons next face Wasps upon their return to Europe’s elite competition, their first Heineken Champions Cup match since 2011.
Williams, who will be making his 50th appearance for Dragons on Saturday, is not shying away from the task ahead of Dean Ryan’s men in the coming weeks and months.
However, he stressed it was vital the squad faced the test head on and looked to enjoy mixing it with the cream of European rugby.
“It doesn’t get any easier for us now, it is a massive period for us, and we’ve spoken about the next seven to eight weeks being huge,” he said.
“It’s going to be a massive learning curve for us in Europe and we know we will be challenged.
“We’ve got to get our own game in order because it’s going to be tough.
“We are excited to be in the Champions Cup and we want to challenge ourselves against the best in Europe.
“These are the hard games you want to be involved in as a professional rugby player.
“The Champions Cup is a new experience and then we have the derbies and they speak for themselves.
“It’s going to be very different playing the other regions without crowds, but there is a buzz around those games and in the camp all week building up to them.”
Dragons secured back to back away victories for the first time in eight years following their victories over Benetton and Glasgow – results made even more impressive by the fact it was the first two outings for the team in almost a month.
And Williams was pleased by both the manner of the wins and also the way Dragons showed they had learnt from the three defeats to the unbeaten Irish provinces.
“I’m proud of the boys, how we have stuck together and showed what we learnt from the first few games of the season,” he said.
“We’ve really reviewed our start to the season, especially with this enforced break, and taken learnings. I thought we put a lot of those things right.
Dragons grabbed tries courtesy of Jared Rosser, on his 50th game for the region, and Brok Harris as hours spent on the training field paid dividends.
“It’s always nice when things from the training park come off,” smiled Williams.
“We tried a few new things, again after the start to the season we’ve had, and they came off.”
