IT WAS nice to finally dust down the passport yesterday to head out for a Newport Gwent Dragons away game.

As you read this column I am out in Italy as we prepare for a key Guinness Pro12 clash against Treviso and it’s great personally to be back in the squad after sitting out the last three games because of my calf.

I’m on the bench this evening and fingers crossed I will play my part in our first league victory on the road of the season, but we know that we will have to be ready physically and mentally for the Italian boys.

The away trip started early yesterday morning when we met up at Ystrad Mynach for our captain’s run, going through a few details in a short, sharp session in which we dot the Is and cross the Ts.

From there it was on to Gatwick for the flight to Italy, landing early evening and checking in to our hotel.

Treviso is a nice town– a few seasons back we stayed over for the week after we were drawn away to Cavalieri Prato in Europe and the schedule fell nicely – but we won’t get the chance to explore today.

We’ll pretty much be locked up in the hotel with our minds on the game. From memory, here is an amazing coffee machine so that will take a bit of a hammering from some of the boys, although we’ll have to be careful not to overload on caffeine.

As I alluded to earlier, it’s great to be involved tonight because I’ve developed a bit of an unwanted reputation for only playing in home games this season.

It will be my 11th appearance of 2015/16 and nine of them have been at Rodney Parade. I’ve had a bit of stick for that so shutting people up about that will be nice!

Treviso haven’t had much success this season but last week got the win that they had been craving against Cardiff Blues.

That’s a double-edged sword – it means that we are still in touch with our rivals but it also means Treviso will have their tails up and will be looking forward to hosting us.

It’s always a tricky game against them and they have a formidable lineout that is run by former England lock Tom Palmer while their scrum is strong and they base their game around winning penalties from the set piece to get a foothold.

Last season the boys produced a big performance to win in Treviso for the first time in the Pro12 with the pack standing firm and the backs playing some great rugby with Hallam Amos scoring a try of the season contender from behind our line.

Hopefully we can produce a repeat to make the journey back easier ahead of next Thursday’s game with Glasgow at Rodney Parade.

The travel schedule means that I’ll get back on time to put the coaching hat on for Newport against Bridgend in the Principality Premiership.

The boys had a really good win against Aberavon, one of our rivals for the play-offs, last weekend and we will be looking to back up a quality performance. We want to keep pushing on in the league and it’s vital that we back up the win against the Wizards with another good showing against the Ravens.

South Wales Argus:

IT’S not long now until we take on Gloucester in the quarter-finals of the European Rugby Challenge Cup and we will be holding a preview event at Rodney Parade for supporters as part of my beneficiary year with Ashley Smith.

We’ll be welcoming a pair of familiar faces to their old stomping ground – former Newport and Gloucester flanker Peter Buxton and centre Matthew J Watkins, who played for the Cherry and Whites, Dragons and Wales.

The event is on Thursday, April 7 – two days before the game – and should really build excitement. It should be a good evening and we wanted this one to be really accessible for the fans with a two-course carvery meal, a band and fundraising activities for St David’s Hospice.

For more information or to buy tickets go to dragonsbeneficiary2016.co.uk, email evansandsmithbeneficiary2016@gmail.com or contact Kelly Reardon-Brown on 01633 670690.