RICHIE Rees has hailed Newport Gwent Dragons' expansive approach for giving their season a shot in the arm in Paris.

The Rodney Parade region have endured a poor start to the Guinness Pro12 but stunned Stade Francais on their own patch in the European Rugby Challenge Cup on Saturday.

Rees crossed for a try along with hooker Rhys Thomas, wing Hallam Amos and flanker Nick Cudd to earn an unlikely bonus point win. The scrum-half believes it shows that the Dragons can be dangerous if they don't go into their shells.

"We haven't had the greatest start to the season but the shackles were off and we just went out there and played," he said.

"This season hasn't been good enough but this can be a turning point. It's up to the boys now for the next few weeks.

"The defence was a lot better and we moved the ball a lot more, there was lot less kicking and Angus O'Brien made the right decisions when he did go for the corners. There was a lot more heads-up rugby.

"The pressure was off and we went out with the intention to play a bit more and that paid dividends."

Stade Francais left a host of their star names out of their squad for Europe but still went into the clash at Stade Jean Bouin as overwhelming favourites.

"As a professional sportsman you always have to believe but I don't think anybody expected the four try bonus point," said Rees.

"Nobody expected us to do anything in Paris and we played on that in the changing room, the boys played for each other and everyone was superb.

"Now we roll on to Friday, we've got a short turnaround and quickly start looking at Newcastle."

The Dragons could be boosted by the return of centre Tyler Morgan for the Falcons game.

The 19-year-old has been out of action since suffering a knee injury against the Ospreys in round two of the Guinness Pro12. It has forced the region to play wing Tom Prydie in midfield as they don't have any fit outside centres on their books.

Director of rugby Lyn Jones said: "Tyler is inches away from returning to play. He is 50/50 for Newcastle but we aren't going to rush him."