JASON Tovey says Newport Gwent Dragons must set their sights higher after shaking off their tag as Wales’ worst region.

The Rodney Parade side will finish above Cardiff Blues in ninth in the Guinness Pro12 regardless of what happens in their final game of the season at Munster on Saturday afternoon.

Tovey, 26, is in seventh campaign with the Dragons but has only previously avoided being lowest-ranked region once – when they were above the Scarlets in 2009/10.

Next term the target will be to push into the battle for Champions Cup qualification and a top-half finish.

“It’s nice to finish above the Blues but we’ve got to start aiming higher than being third Welsh region,” said Tovey, who had a season in the capital in 2012/13.

“Enough’s enough about being bottom, we’ve got to push ourselves and take the limits higher. But this is a start.”

Injuries to Ashley Smith, Pat Leach, Aled Brew and Lee Byrne have left Tovey as the most experienced member of a burgeoning Dragons back line this season.

And he believes that the way that the region have found better form since the autumn, winning 13 of 20 games, bodes well for the future.

“We didn’t have a great start to the season but could see that things were coming together and from December onwards we’ve got better and better,” he said.

“We’ve had the blips every now and then but the young boys in the backs are starting to mature and make the right decisions.

“As long as they are going in the right direction then there is no reason why the club as a whole can’t push on.”

Tovey produced a curate’s egg of a performance against Edinburgh last Friday in his first start at 10 since January, a display that summed up a campaign that has seen him make 24 appearances but also be used as a makeshift full-back.

“It’s been an up and down season, as it usually is with me,” he admitted. “It’s up to me to change that and be more consistent.

“I’m 26 and I’m the oldest in the back line. It’s up to me to control those youngsters and put them in the right positions.

“When I do things wrong I have to take criticism on the chin and work harder.”