THE All Blacks are here but there's only one big game this weekend around these parts.

It has been an annus horribilis for Newport Gwent Dragons, who have won just six games out of 26 in 2014.

This season they have enjoyed morale-boosting cup victories against Stade Francais and the Ospreys but winless Treviso are their only victims in the Guinness Pro12.

That needs to change tomorrow when they welcome Munster to Rodney Parade.

The Irish province will certainly be formidable opponents and their second string showed plenty of grit and determination plus some quality to turn over Cardiff Blues on their own plastic turf last month.

Munster are a tough unit even without Paul O'Connell, Peter O'Mahony, Conor Murray and Simon Zebo; they have often headed to Newport without their biggest names and left with the spoils.

But the Dragons need to win this weekend if they are to keep the faith of the fans that have watched them splutter so far this term.

There has been an element of understanding from the disappointed punters because of the lengthy injury list that has left the management team scratching around for locks and centres.

But such excuses won't wash now that Ashley Smith, Ross Wardle, Tyler Morgan, Andrew Coombs, Cory Hill, Matthew Screech and Joe Davies are all now off the treatment table.

Pre-season optimism has been popped by the form that sees the Dragons occupying 10th in the table with just Treviso and Zebre beneath them but they now have an opportunity to finish the year in style.

Munster is followed by a trip to Glasgow that will be tricky even if the title hopefuls have one eye on Toulouse then it's Bucharest twice, Zebre and the festive double-header with Cardiff Blues.

Get things right and Lyn Jones' men can start 2015 with optimism; get things wrong and a region that has frequently underwhelmed will be at a new low.

This weekend's game can set the tone for the rest of the season and a victory would give supporters a timely pick-me-up.

The Ospreys, Glasgow and Newcastle have already toasted victory in the away changing room at Rodney Parade this season while Bath, Northampton, Connacht and Edinburgh took the spoils from a so-called 'fortress' in the second half of last season.

The Dragons cannot afford Munster to be belting out their 'Stand Up and Fight' victory song tomorrow evening.

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IT will be nice if the Dragons are given a helping hand by Hallam Amos and Tyler Morgan join Taulupe Faletau in penning national dual contracts.

Full-back/wing Amos, 20, and wing/centre Morgan, 19, are quality players that will be soon star on the Test scene.

However, one is left to ponder what the danger actually was of the pair being lured away by wealthy Top 14 clubs in the immediate future.

Amos, currently in the second year of his medical studies at Cardiff University, and Morgan are already on long-term contracts with the Dragons and the likes of Toulon, Clermont, Toulouse, Racing Metro and Stade Francais want the finished article rather than potential.

It's good that the money from the £3.3million pot is being used to keep players in Wales rather than bringing others back at great expense.

But at the moment it doesn't appear to be the landmark development that some are lauding, just a way of giving the regions a bit of a top-up.