BERNARD Jackman says the Dragons don’t have the ability to ring the changes from their Scarlets hammering for their must-win European Challenge Cup date with Bordeaux-Begles – so his players have to step up to avoid “another tooling”.

The Rodney Parade region need to win at the Stade Chaban-Delmas on Saturday (kick-off 8pm) and

repeat the trick in Newport to stand a chance of sneaking into the quarter-finals as one of the three best

runners-up.

They head to France on a demoralising four-game losing streak after being beaten by Newcastle, Cardiff Blues and the Ospreys at home then enduring a

47-13 thrashing at the Scarlets last Friday.

The Dragons are hindered by a lengthy injury list featuring first-choice players Brok Harris, Leon Brown, Ollie Griffiths, Harrison Keddie, Lewis Evans,

Tyler Morgan, Hallam Amos, Ashton Hewitt and Zane Kirchner.

Wales hooker Elliot Dee could return from a concussion while fly-half Dorian Jones is pushing hard for a place in the squad after impressing with Ebbw Vale, but the absentees and the need to pick from the registered Euro squad means that it’s likely to be same again.

“Bordeaux will be very tough because it’s a great stadium and they’ve changed the coach with Rory Teague looking to get momentum out of these two games to take into the Top 14,” said Jackman, who spent six years coaching Grenoble in France.

“We don’t have anyone to come back, it’s that group again so we’ve got to be a lot better or we are going to get another tooling.

“That group aren’t a hell of a lot better than that, but they are not as bad as that.

“We should have thrown something at the Scarlets and didn’t, which is a

killer.”

Bordeaux won 19-10 against Lyon on Saturday in Teague’s first game in charge after Jacques Brunel left to become France coach.

The Frenchmen have rung the changes for the tournament so far and, like the Dragons, have a record of two wins from their four games after edging to a home victory against Enisei-STM last round.

The Dragons have won at Stade Francais and Pau in recent years and Jackman will mull over bringing in some seasoned campaigners for the trip.

Fly-half Gavin Henson sat out the Ospreys and Scarlets derbies after a disappointing showing against the Blues, while South

African duo Sarel Pretorius and Rynard Landman were among the replacements in Llanelli.

“If Arwel Robson is out (with an ankle injury) then we’ve got Gav and Dorian so we will see how Gav trains,” said Jackman.

“Going to France is very difficult and we will have to pick a bit more of an experienced side.

“Experience is usually helpful but at the Scarlets I don’t think our experienced players really did much.”

From last weekend’s

23-man squad, centres Sam Beard and Jarryd Sage,

on-loan tighthead Nicky Thomas, flanker Taine Basham and hooker Ellis Shipp are not registered for Europe.