CHRIS KIRWAN: Dragons’ away day ‘curse’ putting progress in peril

Perhaps Kingsley Jones should spend a few pennies at Musgrave Park when Newport Gwent Dragons arrive in Cork next month for a Guinness PRO12 fixture.

It has been a chastening season for the Dragons away from Rodney Parade with 10 defeats out of 10.

That the latest of these came at Brive last weekend wasn’t surprising – only Euro giants Clermont Auvergne have won at the Stade Amedee-Domenech in 2016/17 – but it was another disappointment to add to a growing list.

Three pointless away games mean that the Dragons failed in their bid for third successive season of knockout Challenge Cup rugby and it was the Enisei-STM and Worcester let-downs that cost them.

Now they must ensure that their efforts outside Newport don’t hinder what could be a season of progress in the PRO12.

It is undoubtedly becoming a mental challenge for the Dragons and, as scrum-half Sarel Pretorius said earlier this week, they just need to grind their way to a win to break the cycle.

Burgling a victory will stop people like me chalking up the defeats since their last PRO12 win away from Rodney Parade. For the record that was against Treviso in March, 2015 a whopping 20 games ago.

That will be easier said than done because after taking on Gloucester at Kingsholm in the Anglo-Welsh Cup a week on Saturday (coincidentally the last opposition ground they won at thanks to last year’s Challenge Cup quarter-final win), they head to leaders Munster, champions Connacht and Glasgow before they take on Zebre (where they were drubbed 47-22 last year).

The Dragons need to find a way of playing away because they have been as woeful on their travels as they have been excellent at Rodney Parade, where they have won eight from 11.

Of their games in all competitions there is just one performance – when they left Parc y Scarlets with two bonus points – that they could be pretty pleased with.

The left empty-handed from all three Challenge Cup fixtures, have been hammered by Leicester in the Anglo-Welsh and taken just two points from a possible 24 in the PRO12 thanks to that Llanelli display.

Of course it should be stressed that it is never easy going to venues like Welford Road, Ravenhill, the Royal Dublin Society and the Liberty Stadium.

It must also be noted that this is a historical problem and the Dragons have frequently failed to head home with the spoils since their inception.

In the league they won five away games in their first campaign in 2003/4 but since then they have recorded more than two just twice, in 2007/8 and 2014/15.

But at the moment they aren’t coming close enough; they need to find a method of succeeding away and perhaps the return from injury of the experienced fly-half Nick Macleod and game-breaker Hallam Amos will help.

If they don’t then they will fail in their bid to finish above one or both of Connacht and Edinburgh while the gap to Cardiff Blues will be insurmountable before the last day derby, whenever and wherever that will be played.

Champions Cup rugby is undoubtedly a bridge too far for the Dragons but it would be nice to at least be in the mix for the play-offs to play in the premier competition (which will be contested by the teams in seventh and eighth unless Edinburgh win the Challenge Cup) and maybe even get an extra fixture, which would be away to an Aviva Premiership or Top 14 opponent.

But at the moment the Dragons’ away form is a self-fulfilling prophecy. By hook or by crook they desperately need to break the cycle to avoid another season slumming it with the Italians.

WHEN Wales are on the Stadio Olimpico field in Rome a week on Sunday it is likely that for the first time since 2010 there will be no Newport Gwent Dragons players belting out Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau.

Dan Lydiate, Taulupe Faletau, Aled Brew, Andrew Coombs, Hallam Amos and most recently Cory Hill have ensured that Rodney Parade has been represented on every Test day since South Africa sneaked the autumn spoils 29-25 at the Millennium Stadium just over six years ago.

While lock Hill and wing Ashton Hewitt have been selected by Rob Howley for the upcoming Six Nations, it will probably take others’ injury misfortune for them to feature, certainly in the round one fixture against Italy.

The former excellently backed up Alun Wyn Jones and Luke Charteris in the autumn but now is likely to lose his place in the 23 to the in-form Jake Ball.

The latter has been named in the Wales squad for the tournament for experience and for Howley & Co to see him at close quarters but he is behind Leigh Halfpenny, Liam Williams, George North and Alex Cuthbert in the pecking order while his fellow uncapped speedster Steff Evans is probably just ahead by virtue of having played Champions Cup rugby.

It is Amos, hoping to make his return from the shoulder injury he suffered against the Wallabies last autumn soon, who is most likely to pick up the baton from Faletau in terms of being a Test regular despite Wales back three riches.

However, he needs to be followed by more teammates and for all our talk about the Dragons having players of great promise, more have to take the next step.

Centres Tyler Morgan and Jack Dixon and hooker Elliot Dee have stalled a little because of injury problems while flanker Ollie Griffiths, who is having a strong season, is in an area of incredible Welsh strength.

Back row forward Harri Keddie and tighthead Leon Brown are clearly highly-rated by the international management, who invited them to senior training last autumn, but the 20-year-olds have plenty of learning to do at Rodney Parade first.

And the academy is where the Dragons’ internationals must come from because the current lack of investment on the playing budget leaves them firstly unable to compete with wage packets of current internationals elsewhere and secondly convince them that Newport is the place to be.

If Hill and Hewitt do miss out against Italy then it will be an uncomfortable moment but hopefully a rare one.