WITH a daunting trip to the Stade Jean Bouin to face in-form Stade Francais on the horizon, Newport Gwent Dragons can ill afford another Guinness Pro12 disaster this afternoon.

The Dragons take on Edinburgh at Murrayfield (kick-off 2.40pm) and are looking for a first league away win since last November's success 50 miles west in Glasgow.

They were shocking in defeat to the Scarlets last week and were lucky to avoid an even heavier defeat than 26-13.

A bonus-point win against hapless Treviso is the Dragons' only win of the season while Edinburgh have also enjoyed a solitary success, their shock win at Munster on opening weekend.

Today's encounter is a crunch one for both sides – win and it will make it an underwhelming start to the season, lose and it is a disastrous one.

If the Dragons leave Scotland with nothing to show for their efforts then it makes next Saturday's European Rugby Challenge Cup opener against Stade, who today look to maintain their perfect home record when they host Paris rivals Racing Metro, look even more frightening.

"This is the last game in the Pro12 for a few weeks and we need to finish off on a high," said the Dragons' former Wales and Lions full-back Lee Byrne.

"If we can get a win then we will go into the Stade game with confidence. There is a lot more to come from this team but we are only five games into the season, there's still a long way to go.

"We've been hit hard by injuries but just have to get on with it and there's no better way of proving ourselves than by showing a bit of determination and grit in Edinburgh.

"The injury situation has been tough for us in the backs but if we ride out the storm and deal with it then it will show our mental toughness."

Byrne missed last weekend's Scarlets clash with a minor back injury that was triggered by the blow to his shoulder suffered in week two against the Ospreys. The fixture didn't make for good viewing.

He said: "It wasn't a typical Welsh derby with teams firing into one another and both teams were probably disappointed with their performance, although the Scarlets came away with the victory.

"We made a lot of errors and our all-round game needs to improve but I am sure it will come. We hoped to have a few more wins by this stage but we just have to stick at it and I am confident things will click soon."

Tom Prydie will continue to deputise as a centre at Murrayfield after the Wales wing/full-back slotted into midfield when Ben John suffered a hamstring strain in the first half in Llanelli.

With Pat Leach, Jack Dixon, Tyler Morgan and Ross Wardle sidelined by injury, Prydie partners inside centre Ashley Smith.

Matthew Pewtner will make his first appearance of the season on the wing while Lee Byrne skippers the side from full-back after recovering from a back injury.

Andrew Coombs is back from suspension in the second row while Wales and Lions number eight Taulupe Faletau sits out his first game of the season.

Edinburgh: G Tonks, D Fife, S Beard, A Strauss, T Visser, T Heathcote, S Kennedy, A Dickinson, R Ford, J Andress, A Bresler, G Gilchrist, M Coman (captain), H Watson, C Du Preez. Replacements: J Hilterbrand, A Dell, W Nel, O Atkins, T Leonardi, S Hidalgo-Clyne, P Burleigh, J Cuthbert.

Dragons: L Byrne (captain), M Pewtner, T Prydie, A Smith, H Amos, J Tovey, J Evans, B Stankovich, E Dee, D Way, A Coombs, R Landman, L Evans, N Cudd, A Powell. Replacements: R Thomas, H Gustafson, L Fairbrother, I Gough, J Thomas, R Rees, A O’Brien.