WINGER Adam Hughes says the feats of former club Exeter Chiefs show sides like the Dragons that major success can be achieved.

The winger scored on his Sandy Park return last Saturday as the Welsh region were downed by the English champions in an entertaining pre-season friendly.

Hughes played his own part in Exeter’s rise to the top, which culminated in May’s nerve-shredding Aviva Premiership final triumph over Wasps.

The Dragons let Hughes go in February 2014, leaving the Welshman to first join Bristol and then Rob Baxter’s Chiefs revolution.

He came back to Rodney Parade in December 2015 and is now one of the region’s most consistent performers.

Commenting on Exeter’s rapid progress under Baxter, he said: “How they’ve built the club from the bottom, getting promoted eight years ago, and what they’ve turned it into goes to show it can be done.

“It’s something we want to do and something we’ve talked about doing, and we can take their example and build towards it.

“What they did really well is bring in certain players that added experience to the squad that ended up bringing everyone else with them.

“What we’ve done this year, especially with Gavin (Henson) and Zane (Kirchner), is bring that experience in, so all of us are learning off those guys and they’re bringing us up to their level.

“That’s what Exeter did. They didn’t go out and buy superstars, they brought players in that added to the environment and who everyone else could learn from.”

The Dragons went toe-to-toe with Exeter for large portions of Saturday’s 50-24 reverse, and Hughes reckons there was plenty to be pleased with.

“The best thing about the tries we scored is that they came off the systems we’ve been working on for the past two months,” he added.

“We can take real positives from that but we’ve just got to keep working on the mistakes.

“It’s been a really tough test this pre-season but if you want to beat the best you’ve got to play the best.

“We’ve done that and we really know where we are now in relation to the top teams.”

Meanwhile, Dragons head coach Bernard Jackman has sung the praises of fly-half Angus O’Brien.

The 22-year-old former Wales Under-20 star showed his capabilities with ball in hand at Sandy Park, while he also kicked well during his side’s heavy loss.

“I rate Angus,” said Jackman.

“From the footage we looked at last year, I thought Angus had a lot of talent, we just needed to make sure we gave him support.

“That’s in terms of what areas of the field to play, and making sure he wasn’t kicking under pressure, because he has got a really good skill set.

“He’s fast, he’s got a natural eye for a break and a good passing game, so he’s somebody that we’re pretty excited about.”

Glasgow visit Ebbw Vale’s Eugene Cross Park this Friday for the Dragons’ final pre-season friendly ahead of the new Guinness PRO14 season.