KINGSLEY Jones says it will be a battle of brains as well as brawn when Newport Gwent Dragons attempt to end their Guinness Pro12 away drought in Treviso this evening.

The Dragons have not won away from Newport in the league since their trip to the Stadio Monigo in March 2015 – a streak of 15 games.

They head into the game on the back of an encouraging display in their 20-16 defeat to Munster while their hosts are fresh from a 64-10 hammering by the Ospreys.

However, the Dragons' past record on their travels means that they know they are in for an arm wrestle in northern Italy (kick-off 7.05pm) with Jones demanding his charges show mental strength.

"Ulster had a tough game there the week before last when it was 10-6 on 50 minutes so we know what to expect," said Jones. "The challenge is a mental one.

"(Treviso boss) Kieran Crowley is a very good coach who will be very disappointed by what happened at the Ospreys but I came in on Monday morning and told the players and analysts not to look at that game, to forget it.

"Treviso will be hurting from it but we can't do anything about that. We've got to prepare ourselves well and need to deliver and get the right result. It's our bread and butter.

"Mentally tough players can go to environments like Treviso and deliver the same performance. They have a good, hostile support and it's about us not making errors.

"We have to be patient and play for 80 minutes. The players set the standard against Munster – although we were defeated I felt the standard was really high – so we need to deliver that again against Treviso and if we do that we will win."

Jones had made seven changes to his line-up from the Munster game with starts given to wing Ashton Hewitt, centre Adam Warren, scrum-half Charlie Davies, tighthead Lloyd Fairbrother, lock Cory Hill and flankers James Thomas and Nic Cudd.

There are also six changes on the bench with former Wales hooker Rhys Thomas back from a neck injury and joined by lock Matthew Screech, back row Harri Keddie, scrum-half Luc Jones, centre Sam Beard and full-back/fly-half Geraint Rhys Jones.

With the head coach expecting the game to be tight, he is looking for his bench to see them home to a much-needed victory.

"I thought our replacements were excellent against Munster and really gave us impetus, that's the biggest area of improvement for us," he said.

"There were a hell of a lot of injuries last season, particularly in the backs, and we didn't use our bench well enough at times.

"We need to have confidence that the bench can go on, deliver and bring something to the game. I am not sure we had that last year whereas this year we are in a better place."