SHANE Lewis-Hughes is confident that the ‘mongrel’ Dragons can cause problems in the United Rugby Championship this season.
The Rodney Parade club got the campaign under way with a backs-to-the-wall victory against the Ospreys last Saturday.
They trailed by eight points in the final quarter and were reduced to 14 men with a yellow card but stayed in the game and then burgled the spoils.
Lloyd Evans kicked a late penalty and then converted Luke Yendle’s try with the clock in the red for a 23-21 success.
“What a win,” said back row forward Lewis-Hughes after his debut. “I don’t think I could have written a better way to win, you can blow teams away sometimes but to dig in like that at the end was incredible.
“There was 80 minutes on the clock and we were in their 22 and the boys didn’t give up when a lot of teams would have.
“We kept on fighting and that just goes to show the hard work that we have put in throughout pre-season.”
Lewis-Hughes arrived from Cardiff over the summer and believes that his new teammates, who suffered a number of last-quarter collapses last season, have had a shift in mentality.
“The boys are saying that it feels different this year, we won’t accept that we are out of games and if we keep performing like that and fighting like that then we are going to cause a lot of teams problems,” he said.
“We had a yellow card, a few penalties and things not going our way but it’s in those times that it really says a lot about you as an individual and a team, if you are going to crumble or fight for it. We showed everyone what we are made of.
“That was the big one that we had been targeting all pre-season. It was all built towards that and it wasn’t perfect but we had a lot of mongrel and fight.”
Lewis-Hughes wore 8 on his back when he has arrived with the aim of getting back to the form that earned Wales caps as a blindside.
The 27-year-old was typically combative and also came up with key moments in the defensive lineout but knows that the Dragons need to improve after burgling the spoils at the death.
They will need to up their game on Friday when up against Irish heavyweights Leinster at the Aviva Stadium.
“That showed me the boys are willing to dig in and that puts us in good stead but we can’t rest on this, we have to keep building or it will mean nothing,” said Lewis-Hughes.
“The pressure is on to build from it but it’s a really good start. It will be the same in Dublin – digging in, fighting hard, not giving up.”
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