NEWPORT Gwent Dragons centre Ashley Smith is hoping his second home clash with Munster tonight can live up to the 2006-7 meeting with the Irish province.

The 20-year-old won the man of the match award in a superb showing as the Dragons notched a 19-12 victory in January.

The young centre stood up to everything the then European champions threw at him and even managed to force a turnover when giant Lions lock Paul O'Connell charged straight at him.

While the World Cup has denied Smith the chance of a repeat, though O'Connell could well be heading back to Magners League action earlier than planned after Sunday, he is hoping for a replica of that memorable night.

He said: "It was one of my best games and I look back on it with fond memories, so hopefully we can get the same performance and result.

"Any home game is important and there is greater emphasis on it after two losses on the bounce, but pressure never did anyone any harm and hopefully we can thrive on it.

"Not much really went wrong that night, the team went well which helped me and I had a few lucky breaks.

"I'm glad O'Connell's not going to be here because he's a pretty big bloke - I saw him coming and thought just dive at his legs and hope for the best. I suppose it worked because he dropped the ball."

Smith played inside Rhodri Gomer Davies for the first time in the loss to Connacht last weekend and was pleased with the early signs from the combination.

And last season's Wales Under-20 skipper, who saw that season ended by a shoulder injury, believes the competition for midfield places will drive everyone on.

"We perhaps didn't have competition for places for a lot of last season. Nathan Brew was injured for a lot of it, so was Gareth Maule, and it was only me and Paul Emerick available for large parts of the season.

"It's a bit different now because there's Phil Dolman, Gareth, Paul and Rhodri. The pressure for places can only be a good thing for the team."

He said: "Hopefully I don't need other people to make me perform and I'm diligent enough to work hard, but when there are people breathing down your neck you know you need a good game."

l Munster coach Declan Kidney said: "It's a huge challenge against the Dragons. You only have to look at the results for everyone and see how difficult it is to win away from home in this competition. Certainly our record in Wales in recent times is not good."

Dragons: M Thomas, G Wyatt, R Davies, A Smith, R Mustoe, A Thomas, A Williams, H Gustafson, S Jones, R Thomas, L Charteris (captain), A Hall, D Lydiate, J Bearman, D Parks.

Munster: S Payne, I Dowling, K Lewis, L Mafi, A Horgan; P Warwick, T O'Leary; Darragh Hurley, D Fogarty, F Pucciariello; M Melbourne, M O'Driscoll; B Holland, N Ronan, A Foley capt.

Replacements: S Cronin, T Ryan, T O'Donnell, J Coughlan, G Hurley, J Manning, R Tipoki.