NEWPORT is twinned with Heidenheim in Germany, Kutaisi in Georgia and Guangxi Province in China yet perhaps it's time some French friends were added to the list given the goings-on at Rodney Parade.

The Six Nations is upon us so get ready for five weekends of pondering 'which France are going to turn up?' but Newport Gwent Dragons are showing the sort of mind-boggling inconsistency that has been associated with Les Bleus.

The cruel among you would point to the Guinness Pro12 table and suggest that with just three wins from 11 games they have actually been consistent – consistently bad.

But those who watch them week in, week out will testify that their performances can swing from one extreme to the next.

Betting is a mug's game but it's not just the punters who suffer at the hands of the Dragons, they are the sort of team who can get the person responsible for setting the points handicap at the bookies sacked for being way out.

Like a music lover settling down to watch the notoriously temperamental Van Morrison live, you never know what is about to unfold.

Just five weeks ago Lyn Jones' squad were basking in a stunning success at the Stade du Hameau in Pau that ranks among the region's best ever wins. They were stunningly good when romping to a bonus-point win.

This week they are deflated after a woeful performance at the AJ Bell Stadium in Salford that saw Sale snatch Pool Two top spot in the European Rugby Challenge Cup.

Passions understandably ran high last weekend after that shocker, which ranks alongside the 60-3 home loss to Glasgow in 2013 and last year's semi-final thrashing at the hands of Edinburgh as the worst I've witnessed.

It was a display that was so bad that it makes you question whether the European runs of the past two years have been worth it as they have merely papered over chasms.

There are undoubtedly big problems at the organisation, one glance at where the region's placings since 2005 (always in the bottom half of the Celtic League) shows that.

We've become accustomed to bumbling at the basement with the odd rousing win to keep us interested but folk are growing tired and weary when there are other things competing for their time and money.

It's time for those in charge to either 'do something' or get off the pot, to use a more family-friendly version of the saying, but I've written this so many times – the latest effort being on New Year's Eve – and cannot justify writing the same old column about the same old issues.

The crux of the matter is that the solution to inconsistency is cold, hard cash.

The Dragons have done very well to qualify from a tricky European pool that contains an Aviva Premiership team and two Top 14 sides with deep pockets and strong squads.

They strung together five good performances with one horror show whereas last season's draw that pitted them against Bucharest Wolves as well as Newcastle and Stade Francais meant they only really needed three good performances and two solid ones to make the last eight.

But while they are one of only two Pro12 teams to have the prospect of knockout rugby in April, joining Connacht in the quarters of the second tier competition, there is no getting away from their shocking league campaign to date.

We entered the season with high hopes of them at least challenging for a top-half finish and a place in the Champions Cup, even if that is a level of rugby that is beyond them and would probably lead to a whitewash of six losses.

Instead the second half of the season will consist of them attempting to climb above Zebre and somehow overtake Cardiff Blues, who currently enjoy a seven-point lead and home advantage when the sides meet the April weekend after the Gloucester quarter.

There is pretty good mitigation for such a disappointing league campaign with the treatment room at the Dragons' Ystrad Mynach base being busier than the training paddock.

However, improved consistency will come with greater depth and a squad that features more seasoned campaigners who know how to react under stress.

All the Welsh regions struggle on this front but the Dragons' roster is thinner than nearly every other side that took part in the European competitions with novices George Gasson, Barney Nightingale and Joe Davies as filler in the required 41-strong squad.

Lyn Jones was ridiculed in the comments section beneath the story on the Argus website when he said that their squad needs luck with injury rather than drastic surgery, if you excuse the pun.

He is part right – when the Dragons have their first team out they are pretty handy. But what club in an increasingly attritional sport ever has an empty injury list?

More numbers are needed and they need to be good signings or the cash flow will be hit by those who chose to wait and see when it comes to committing to another season ticket. The natives are restless, and who can blame them?

Nor can it be said that the coaching team come out of the current plight unscathed despite injuries and their meagre budget.

The kick-heavy tactics have frequently infuriated supporters this season and the Sale debacle didn't reflect well on anybody.

Head coach Kingsley Jones questioned his charges' approach by saying in the tunnel afterwards: "I guess that motivation was with Sale. It showed. They needed to win."

That was effectively a mea culpa – if a squad isn't bang up for it when a home quarter-final is up for grabs when will they be? Are they getting the best out of the squad that they have at their disposal?

The Dragons have been pretty good on home soil this season with six wins from eight and those two losses that should have been victories.

Folk are disenchanted at the moment but the players will still be loudly backed against Leinster tomorrow.

However, consistent run of Superman performances and a bit less of Clark Kent to win over the doubters and even then there will be those who are reluctantly happy, believing the only way of enjoying a brighter future is for things to get even worse.