HAVING enjoyed a tough and hard-fought win away in Bucharest it was very satisfying to back it up with a big victory at home.

However, the way that we worked as a 15-strong pack against the Wolves was even more pleasing than the scoreline.

The combined team ethic and synergy between the forwards and backs helped us win 69-17 – breaking two regional records by scoring 12 tries and scoring so many points – and this needs to be repeated against Zebre and Cardiff Blues in the Guinness Pro12 in coming weeks.

In games like last week’s it’s easy for players to go off on their own agenda. There’s no place for lone rangers in rugby; it’s a 15-man game and with the work rate and solid set piece from the pack, it was great to see the backs complement this with good skill and accuracy.

Us forwards love to score tries from driving lineouts but it’s just as rewarding to see a winger going over in the corner after two or three phases of hard graft.

The 10 points from the Bucharest double-header puts us top of the group and when we get back to Europe in the New Year the target will be qualifying for the quarter-finals by beating Newcastle and Stade Francais. We haven’t played knockout rugby since making the semi-finals of the LV= Cup in 2011 so that’s a massive incentive.

But the Challenge Cup gets put to bed for four games and this is a huge month for our season after making a disappointing start to the Guinness Pro12.

Unfortunately I could only play the first half last week after suffering a dead leg and this week has been more managing the injury at Bryn Meadows gym and pool and hoping to be available for selection against Zebre but time will tell and it will be a strong back row whoever Lyn Jones selects.

He’s also got to go with a new inside centre as Ashley Smith faces some time out after having the bottom of his jaw wired because he got injured making a tackle against Bucharest.

On the positive side at least Ash can enjoy a Christmas drink, although he may have to settle for soup rather than a dinner with all the trimmings! But it’s a big blow to lose him, he’s an influential member of the squad so hopefully he can make a speedy recovery.

Off the field eight of us continue to develop our business knowledge via a workshop with Skill Group Wales, a company who have former Dragons wing/centre Nathan Brew as their managing director, and ex-Dragons scrum-half Wayne Evans encouraging us to be proactive with thinking about life beyond the rugby field.

On the pitch we need to produce the goods again versus a Zebre side that are above us in the league at the moment and have a few key figures.

Italy lock Marco Bortolami is an inspirational figure and starts everything for them through his lineout work in attack and defence while New Zealand scrum-half Brendon Leonard is a real attacking threat as is their 10, Kelly Haimona who started for Italy this autumn.

We will need to keep them under wraps as we did at Rodney Parade last year so that we avoid an upset that would take away the momemtum we have build up in recent weeks.

We’ve done our preparation but, as ever, the main focus is on ourselves and repeating the positive attitude and work ethic that we have shown against Bucharest and continuing to build on some encouraging performances for the Christmas derbies against the Blues which are a massive for our season.