Davies made 14 changes to his starting line-up from the team that beat the Ospreys on Boxing Day for the trip to Rodney Parade, but the new look side battled to victory to the delight of their coach.
“It was a very tough, physical game – that’s always the case when you come to Rodney Parade and the intensity in these local derbies is huge,” said Davies.
“I’m very pleased with the way the team went about their business. They defended superbly well and played in the right areas.
“We asked the Dragons to try and break us down and I’m very pleased with the way our boys reacted. I thought the scrum was important, particularly in the second half. I thought we had the dominance there.
“It was our game without the ball as much as anything that kept that game in our sights. We scored a great try and we’ve got that in us when there are opportunities, but more than anything else we looked to put pressure on the Dragons.”
“We’ve got a lot of strength in depth. That’s where we are at the moment. We spent the last the last two years trying to build that strength in depth, exposing some of the boys to our top-level rugby.
“A lot of the boys who played tonight had an opportunity in the early part of the season when a lot of the internationals were away and, because of that exposure, they’re able to front up in a place like Rodney Parade which is not easy.
“Two years ago we were struggling to get players on the park. It’s taken a long time to get here and we’ve gone under the radar with some of the players we’ve brought in, and we’ve invested heavily in their development.
“We’re not being complacent for one minute and there’s a lot of work to do, but we’re in a strong position in terms of selection right now.”
