WAYNE Barnes could be forgiven for thinking he is refereeing a Currie Cup game rather than a European Challenge Cup semi-final on Saturday when Montpellier welcome Newport Gwent Dragons to the Altrad Stadium in southern France (kick-off 5.30pm BST).

As many as a dozen of the 46 players involved in the last-four tie hail from South Africa, with eight of that number, including brothers Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis, Francois Steyn and Pierre Spies, featuring for Montpellier, coached by the Springboks’ 2007 World Cup-winning coach Jake White.

The Dragons may not have as many in their matchday squad but scrum-half Sarel Pretorius, full-back Carl Meyer, second row Rynard Landman and prop Brok Harris will be just as important to the visitors as they try to reach a first major final since becoming a region back in 2003.

A 'wen' (Afrikaans for win) for the Dragons, just days after the departure of Lyn Jones, would go down as arguably one of the greatest in Welsh rugby, and Bloemfontein-born Pretorius insists he and his teammates want to make the most of the chance they have.

“We’re going out all guns blazing and will give it our all,” he said. “That’s why we play rugby, to win silverware, but you never know at the beginning of the season that’s going to happen.

“You always take it game by game and now we’re in the semi-finals. It’s a great opportunity for us playing in the semis and hopefully the final.

“If you don’t believe you can win it I don’t know why you are playing.

“We’re looking forward to it. We’ve got nothing to lose, we’re just going to go out there and enjoy ourselves.

“I think the odds are against us but we showed against Gloucester that, and I don’t know if it’s the Gilbert ball, but the boys are enjoying the European challenge.”

On Saturday's game, he added: “There will be some good battles, especially in the front row with Broky (Brok Harris), Jannie (du Plessis) and Bismarck (du Plessis).

“We know some of the boys, we played against them in Super Rugby, so I think the referee may have to learn to talk Afrikaans on the pitch.”

And Pretorius believes that if the Dragons can pacify the threat of the Montpellier pack then it could be his side’s day.

“It all starts up front with the forwards,” he said. “If we can match them up front our backs are going to have a good day out there.

“We need to move their pack around, get them fatigued, move the ball around, but don’t get too loose.”