THERE has been no outbreak of foot in mouth disease in the Newport Gwent Dragons camp this week.

They have been understandably respectful to Zebre both after their opening night Guinness Pro12 defeat to Connacht in Galway and at their Ystrad Mynach training base.

The Italians have been training in Newport after being given a 61-13 hammering at Cardiff Blues and the Dragons haven't been as daft as to give them any more motivation should Aussie scrum-half Luke Burgess pass a newsstand.

Wales great Ryan Jones was famously made to regret stating "if we were still there now I don't think Saracens would have scored" after the Ospreys had hammered the English side 30-3 at the Millennium Stadium in the semi-finals of the Anglo-Welsh Cup.

The tables were turned in remarkable fashion at Vicarage Road in the Heineken Cup quarters just a fortnight later.

So the staff may not be making any grand statements but the rest of us can go wild and frankly tomorrow's clash at Rodney Parade has to be a convincing five-pointer.

It won't be easy – and the Dragons must not adopt a gung-ho approach – but they must better last season's slightly underwhelming 25-11 victory in which Ross Wardle, Hallam Amos and Rynard Landman crossed for tries.

If the Dragons are to improve on their 2014/15 campaign then they need to improve their record at Rodney Parade, where they won five and lost five in the Pro12 (plus they lost the Judgement Day clash with the Scarlets at the Millennium).

They bagged 24 points from a possible 50 in Newport and that was thanks to them playing catch-up pretty well with wins against Ulster, Leinster and Edinburgh in the run-in to add to the wins against the Italian pair.

This season needs to be different with a winning record and I would like them to set the tone this weekend, playing with a swagger and doing a thoroughly professional job.

The World Cup means that we have just one more Dragons game at Rodney Parade before November – the visit of Treviso on Friday, October 23 (by which time both teams may well have their international contingents back).

They need to make these two encounters count; the minimum points tally from those games is eight but 10 would really put them on the right track.

THERE was a mixture of disappointment and optimism when the post-match interviews were conducted outside the away changing room at the Sportsground.

The Dragons had missed a golden chance to end an 11-year wait for victory in Galway but in truth it would have been a smash-and-grab success.

Connacht were good value for their victory but the visitors had shown good spirit to first close to within two points and be pressing outside the hosts' 22 and then rally for a bonus point at the death (curiously thanks to a botched restart by Dorian Jones seconds after he replaced Jason Tovey as the resulting scrum led to a penalty).

Lyn Jones' positive tone in his interview moments after the final whistle has led to disappointment from some supporters in the Argus comments section and on social media but don't confuse positivity with satisfaction, there were no high fives at the final whistle.

And those that expect the Dragons to just rock up and turn over Connacht do a disservice to what a good side they have become under Pat Lam.

Let's not forget that the Dragons are attempting to catch up with the men from Galway.

Last season they finished eight points behind Connacht and recorded two fewer victories. Connacht will travel to Rodney Parade in February chasing a hat-trick of doubles over the Dragons and they can boast recent successes in the premier European competition against Toulouse at the Stade Ernest Wallon, Harlequins and Biarritz.

Yes, it was an opportunity missed by the Dragons but a point in Galway at least gives something to build from.