Centre Adam Warren has urged Dragons to come together and produce in the upcoming derby fixtures in the United Rugby Championship (URC).
The Men of Gwent travel to the Swansea.com Stadium on Sunday afternoon to face Ospreys (kick-off 3pm) before welcoming Cardiff Rugby to Rodney Parade on Friday, May 13 (kick-off 7.35pm).
And Warren wants the big double-header of derby action to galvanise the squad after the disappointment of defeat to Zebre.
“The URC is a tough competition every week, but we are a team that can perform in these derby games,” he said.
“We showed that against Scarlets away and were unlucky in patches against them at home.
“We’re always confident as a group that we can raise it for the derby games, let the emotions take over and really produce.
“It’s important to finish this season strong,” he added. ”We need to come together as a group and get some results.
“We need to look back at the last few games, get the good parts out there on the field and take that forward into next season.”
Reflecting on the defeat to Zebre, Warren admits the team cannot afford a repeat of the indiscipline that struck in the final quarter when they were reduced to 13 men.
“It was a disappointing performance – nobody is hiding from that,” admitted Warren.
“The last few games we have built nicely, some parts of the last few games have been good, but we went away to a tough place like Zebre and couldn’t get our game on the park.
“We showed some fight to get ahead, but towards the end our discipline let us down. We had the lead and there was a chance to kick on, stick with our processes.
“But throughout the game our discipline wasn’t the best and then the two yellow cards added to it and then we are suddenly chasing the game.
“They had their tails up, had a few big ball carriers that got themselves in the game and it got tough to stop. We’ve got to learn and be better.”
The URC is a tough competition every week, but we are a team that can perform in these derby games...
