Much has been made of the region’s struggles at the setpiece this season but centre cum wing Wardle insists the backline will have a huge part to play if the Dragons are to get back on track in Italy.
Lyn Jones’ side were far more solid up front in last week’s defeat to Edinburgh than they had been in the recent home hammering by Connacht and Wardle now wants an all-round performance as the Dragons go in search of just a second league win of the year at the Stadio di Monigo.
“We need to make something of the ball we are getting in the backs,” said Wardle, who insists there is still an upbeat vibe in the squad despite a frustrating run of results.
“A lot of emphasis has been on the scrums but, if we’re not scoring tries out wide and creating things, we can’t blame the forwards.
“We need to make sure we don’t have little lapses in concentration like we did for the two Edinburgh tries, we switched off twice but apart from that they didn’t look like scoring. They took their chances and that’s what we need to do. We need to create opportunities and take them.
“We need to front up against Treviso, we can’t afford to get bullied. Our pack did well last week with their work in the driving line-out and in the scrum which was a big improvement on where we had been recently this season.
“There’s a pretty positive mood in the camp after Edinburgh. Everyone was down in the dumps after Connacht, Zebre was an improvement and Edinburgh showed that we’re going in the right direction. None of us are happy about losing, but it’s not as doom and gloom as it was after the loss to Connacht.”
Wardle has played 22 times already for the Dragons this season but the second half of the campaign has been more disjointed than both he and the region would have liked.
While the squad as a whole have struggled to replicate their really promising start to life under Jones’ leadership in recent months, Wardle has spent time on the bench and flitting between wing and centre since the end of November.
The 22-year-old made his first nine appearances of the season in the midfield and in the starting line up but has been named at centre just four times since then, with a further two starts out wide and seven more outings from among the replacements.
“I’ve got to get back in the team and get back to where I was at the start of the season,” added Wardle.
“Since December against Connacht I’ve only played at centre three times. Each game I’ve played in the centre has been weeks apart so it’s quite hard to get any continuity going. You get used to playing with certain people in a certain position, and if you’re changing position all the time it’s hard to find form.
“It’s not an excuse but if you’re worrying about what you have to do to get picked for the next game the pressure can get too much and you try to force things.”
