NEWPORT Gwent Dragons must show a united front to battle their way out of their current slump, says hooker Rhys Thomas.

The Dragons have made a poor start to the season with just one win from six games in the Guinness Pro12.

Their performances have been as disappointing as the results with the Rodney Parade region hindered by high error counts, a poor kicking game and a spluttering attack.

They headed into the campaign with high hopes, especially after a pre-season success against English champions Northampton, but that optimism has been popped.

Thomas admits that confidence is low but has urged the squad to stay tight.

"This is when you see the real character and backbone of a team," said the 31-year-old hooker, who has been battling with Elliot Dee for the number 2 jersey.

"It's easy to give each other praise and have a beer together when you are winning but it's even more important to stick together when you are losing rather than go off in twos or threes to have a little sap.

"We are in this together and have to stay positive even though things are not going our way at the moment.

"It's not so much the results but the performances that are disappointing because we know that we are better than this and we thought that we had turned the corner in pre-season.

"It's tough for us but hopefully this season will be the other way round and we will finish strongly unlike last year when we fell off after a good start."

One crumb of comfort for the Dragons has been the progress that they have made in the tight five.

They have traditionally been marched backwards at the scrum and lineout but have enjoyed parity at least in the early days of 2014/15.

But on Saturday they face a stern test when they head to Paris to take on a Stade Francais side that have made a super start to the Top 14.

"It will be a good test for us because our set piece has gone well and our scrum in particular has improved a hell of a lot," said Thomas.

"At times we were beaten before we went on the field last season in terms of our own mindset and how the referees viewed us.

"We've turned that around through hard work and I think that teams are now giving us the respect that we deserve."

"It's exciting to go over to one of the top teams in Europe," he continued. "We've got nothing to lose and can just go over there and play, perhaps without some of the pressure that we have been putting ourselves under."