Newport Gwent Dragons winger Ross Wardle insists belief is high in the camp as they prepare to take on Treviso in the RaboDirect PRO12.

The Dragons are without a win in their last five RaboDirect PRO12 games but Wardle believes they are on the up after running Edinburgh Rugby close before losing 19-23 in the last round.

And the 22-year-old knows if they show a similar level of performance against Treviso this weekend, that elusive win will not be far away.

“Everyone was down in the dumps after Connacht, Zebre was an improvement and Edinburgh showed that we’re going in the right direction,” he said.

“None of us are happy about losing, but it’s not as doom and gloom as it was after the loss to Connacht.

“We need to make something of the ball we are getting in the backs.

“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.

Lewis Evans replaces injured Welsh international Andrew Coombs as captain while scrum-half Wayne Evans replaces Richie Rees while Cory Hill steps in alongside Matthew Screech in Coombs’ absence.

Benetton Treviso’s solo victory in their last seven RaboDirect PRO12 encounters was 20-16 at home to Edinburgh on March 29.

Treviso have not beaten a Welsh opponent this season, the closest they came was a 26-all draw at home to Cardiff Blues on November 30.

Newport Gwent Dragons have won only one RaboDirect PRO12 match since round 11: 24-23 at home to Glasgow on February 23.

Dragons are unbeaten in their last eight games against Italian opponents since they lost in Treviso in December 2012.

The two sides have met on six previous occasions in the RaboDirect PRO12 with the Italians having the edge by four wins to two, whilst Dragon’s only previous victory at Stadio Monigo came on 8th December 2007 in the European Cup.

And Wardle admits his side cannot afford to lose concentration for even a moment if they are to take the win.

“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,” he said.

“They took their chances and that’s what we need to do. We need to create opportunities and take them.”

At Stadio Monigo, 7pm local time (6pm UK & Ireland). Live on Mediaset
Referee: George Clancy (IRFU, 61st competition game)
Assistant Referees: Stefano Traversi, Giorgio Sgardolo (both FIR)
Citing Commissioner: Stefano Marrama (FIR)
TMO: Alan Falzone (FIR)