The struggling Gwent region have just one Guinness PRO12 win to their name following their 26-13 derby defeat at the Scarlets yesterday, and face a must-win match against Edinburgh in round six. Both sides are languishing at the bottom end of the table but Jones is hoping the Dragons can muscle-up against the Scottish side.
He said: “Nobody is happy at all after the Scarlets math and there was a lot of disappointment in the changing room. But we’ve got to believe that we can go there and get the win, they are in the same boat as us and it will be tough, but we are up for the challenge.
“The forwards and the scrum went well and we have to try and find the positives because we have to kick on and go for Edinburgh away.”
Alan Solomons side have not won since they shocked Munster on the opening weekend following their 30-0 hammering at Ulster.
But the Dragons will once again be hampered by their lengthy injury list, after on-loan centre Ben John suffered a hamstring injury. It leaves Ashley Smith as their only specialist centre, with academy prospect Barney Nightingale waiting in the wings. But no matter who is on the pitch, Jones has called for his side to grab the initiative when they travel to Scotland.
He said: “Controlling the ball is a massive factor, we couldn’t get a foothold in the game and didn’t get in the right areas. We have a problem with our exit strategy and we just can’t get out of our 22. Our defence must be good because we spent a lot of time without the ball, but their tries came from our errors.”
