THE Dragons don’t expect to be caught cold in Russia tomorrow after venturing into the unknown against Enisei-STM last season, writes Chris Kirwan.

The Rodney Parade region endured a humbling afternoon in Krasnodar last October when they shipped six tries in a 38-18 defeat.

They turned the tables in Newport when a pair of late tries by back row forward Harri Keddie secured a bonus point in an encounter that was harder than the 34-10 scoreline suggests.

Dragons analyst Will Precious hopes that those experiences will ensure there is no repeat at Slava Stadium in Moscow (kick-off 1pm).

“I think it’s fair to say we weren’t in a good place going there last year and we’re far better now as a team,” he said.

“We are more confident in how we need to go over there and approach the game, we are all on the same page so I’d like to think that performance won’t happen again.”

A fixture against the Russian champions, who lost 57-17 to Bordeaux-Begles last weekend, presents different challenges for the analysis team to fixtures against rivals from the Guinness PRO14, Aviva Premiership or Top 14.

“You download their games from YouTube, so that’s pretty tough, while their standard of opposition is lower, so maybe you don’t think they’re up to scratch but the footage from Bordeaux shows they can play at a good level,” said Precious.

“They haven’t changed many players from last year so we are facing virtually the same team that put us away, and they play a similar style.”

“As analysts we always do a team check and look to see continuity, then pick on key individuals so that we know where their strengths and weaknesses are.”

The Dragons, who name their team at midday, are also helped by the fixture being in the Russian capital rather than further south in Krasnodar, or even in Siberia.

“It’s Moscow and one flight rather than hanging around in an airport at 3am for a couple of hours. Hopefully that will help, although that wasn’t an excuse last time,” said Precious.