Last weekend’s defeat to Glasgow means the Dragons have five points to make up on their conquerors, who now occupy the final Play-Off berth.
But the man who came on as a second half replacement for Matthew Watkins in the defeat in Scotland is taking up his side’s chances of making the cut.
“We go into every game expecting to win, we’ve won two difficult home games (against Munster and the Ospreys) which were two big scalps and with another result against Glasgow we would have been there or thereabouts for the play-offs. We are coming away from home and not performing, but we are still there despite losing which is a sign of a team developing.
“Glasgow are one of the top teams in the Magners League with some very experienced players, yet we almost sneaked a bonus point when not playing anywhere near our capability which again shows how we are developing.
But he admits the loss in Scotland was a blow: “It was an incredibly disappointing result. It was a similar story the last time we played them when we were off in the first five or ten minutes and we vowed it wouldn’t happen again.
“We didn’t react and our biggest problem was at the breakdown where we were up against a very experienced back row and we came off second best.
“We did have experienced players missing and Luke went off at half-time. It does hurt us when they are not there, but it has given an opportunity to Toby Faletau who is a dynamic ball carrier with good skills and Andrew Coombs as well – that’s the way you’ve got to look at it.”