NEWPORT Gwent Dragons aim to take their frustration out on Treviso this evening after two weeks of “mental torture”.

The Dragons welcome the Italians to Rodney Parade after suffering a humiliating 27-19 defeat to Connacht a fortnight ago.

They headed into that game on the back of four wins from five but were outmuscled and out-thought by the Irish province.

It was a demoralising loss that effectively ended their hopes of catching Cardiff Blues in the race for the final Welsh qualification spot for next season’s Heineken Cup.

Not only that but it has been a result that festered in the back of their minds after last weekend’s break for European action.

Head coach Darren Edwards admitted the Dragons can’t wait to get back on the horse.

“It’s been a tough two weeks,” he admitted. “We had been looking forward to a mental break as well as a physical one after a hectic schedule.

“But that mental break has become mental torture. We can’t get away from how poor that performance was and tonight we want to put some wrongs right.

“We have had to work hard when we should have been having a break and that is simply because our display was not up to scratch.

“There is a real desire to have a big end to the season and having got ahead of Treviso in the table we need to stay there.”


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LOCK Scott Morgan is set to make his return for Newport Gwent Dragons after being named among the replacements for tonight’s game against Treviso.

Morgan has been out of action since he ruptured a pectoral muscle in the Amlin Challenge Cup defeat at Exeter in December.

The 33-year-old is cover for Rob Sidoli and Luke Charteris, the latter of whom captains the side on his 100th Celtic League appearance.

There are five changes to the side that started the 27-19 loss to Connacht a fortnight ago.

Scrum-half Joe Bedford gets the nod ahead of Wayne Evans while Adam Hughes replaces Andy Tuilagi (shoulder) at outside centre.

Lewis Evans starts at openside flanker instead of Jevon Groves, who drops out of the matchday squad, while loosehead Nathan Williams and hooker Sam Parry come into the front row for Phil Price and Steve Jones respectively.

Morgan is joined on the replacements bench by 17-year-old Hallam Amos and Cardiff Blues-bound fly-half Jason Tovey, who needs just 10 points to become the leading points scorer in the Dragons’ brief history.

Treviso, coached by ex-Newport fly-half Franco Smith, include eight players that featured in Italy’s Six Nations encounter with Wales while they also boast the prolific Australian Brendan Williams on their left wing.

Dragons: W Harries, T Chavhanga, A Hughes, A Smith, A Brew, L Robling, J Bedford, N Williams, S Parry, N Buck, L Charteris (captain), R Sidoli, D Lydiate, L Evans, T Faletau. Replacements: S Jones, P Price, D Way, S Morgan, T Brown, W Evans, J Tovey, H Amos.

Treviso: L McLean, L Nitoglia, T Iannone, A Sgarbi, B Williams, K Burton, E Gori, M Rizzo, F Sbaraglini, L Cittadini, A Pavanello (captain), C Van Zyl, M Filippucci, A Zanni, R Barbieri. Replacements: D Vidal, M Muccignat, I Rouyet, V Bernabò, F Minto, S Picone, F Semenzato, A Di Bernardo

Referee: James Matthews (Scotland)