Dragons RFC continued their impressive home form on Friday night, extending their run of Rodney Parade victories to four.
Next up are two away tests to finish block two ahead of the Six Nations, against Munster and Ospreys.
With the side “full of confidence”, the challenge is to the home momentum on the road, on Friday night at Cork’s Virgin Media Park against a Munster side who will be looking to bounce back following a home defeat to Castres which knocked them out of the Champions Cup.
“I’m pleased with the character the team showed,” said centre Aneurin Owen after win against Newcastle on Friday night.
“The first half didn’t go our way, we had a lot of the ball but we couldn’t get over the line.
“The character the boys showed was very good and our mindset at home is superb and the challenge for us now is to take it away from home.
“We have two games away from home now and the test now is to put a performance like tonight in against Munster and Ospreys.”
Dragons co-captain Angus O’Brien was named player of the match against Newcastle and echoed Owen’s words.
“We’ve had four great wins at Rodney and the next step is to win away and we’re working hard to do that,” said O’Brien.
“We’ve got another opportunity next week out in Munster and we’ve got to put our best foot forward out there.
“They’re obviously a great team but we’ll go out there full of confidence and it’s another opportunity for us.”
One area that has been a huge weapon for Dragons, particularly in recent weeks, is the driving maul, which again proved fruitful on Friday night with a score for Brodie Coghlan along with a penalty try.
“In training we work on the maul quite a lot and work really hard against each other, trying to improve it,” said Dragons prop Wyn Jones.
“It’s paying off now and that is showing on the pitch. In the second half we could play off the lineout a bit more and we scored off a maul too.”
Tighthead prop Robert Hunt added: “I think in the first half we knew the maul was going to be our weapon, move their heavies around and then tire them at set-piece.”
“We know we’ve got a strong set-piece when that gets going.
“First-half, we didn’t get much reward from the maul aside from the first one, but no points, second half they started falling off, we kept applying pressure and we really got reward off it.
“We spoke about weaponizing our set-piece and I think we did that really well tonight, if win that physical battle up front then we’re more than happy.”
They’re obviously a great team but we’ll go out there full of confidence and it’s another opportunity for us.
