Newport Gwent Dragons recorded their third consecutive Magners League triumph on the weekend, beating Aironi 18 v 3 in Northern Italy.
The Italians had been targeting the Welsh side as they bid to register their first league win in their debut season in the celtic league. But after enduring a mixed first-half the Dragons ran in two tries in the second period to claim a hard-fought victory and move up into seventh place in the table.
The Newport based region are only 12 points adrift of the play-off places and have two games in hand over their rivals and acting head coach Darren Edwards was delighted as the Dragons made it four out of four under his reign.
“I’m very proud of that win, you should be proud of every win but to get four in a row is brilliant,” said Edwards.
“Consistency in performances is something we are always looking for. And after four in a row I feel we’re in a position where we can challenge any one.
“With the wet conditions here we knew our forwards would be up against it. Aironi have a big pack that take some beating, they showed that against Leinster last week.
“You have to respect that and grind them down and I thought we did that. There were so many scrums and the forwards worked really hard. The back three complemented that and I thought the half-backs controlled the game really well.
The Dragons now face Glasgow at Firhill on Friday and Edwards is determined to continue building momentum as they push for a play-off place.
“Next week is another huge test, we have a four day turn around and only have one training session. It’s the second of three games in a row and we have to try to carry it on.”