JUST over two years after being a hero in France, fly-half Angus O'Brien hopes to repeat the trick without the element of surprise in Newport Gwent Dragons' must-win European Rugby Challenge Cup clash against Brive.

O'Brien was a late addition to the XV to face Stade Francais in Paris on October 18, 2014, called up to start when Jason Tovey had a passport mishap.

The novice fly-half from Caerleon, who had only just left his teens, had a stormer a French side who were able to call former Springbok number 10 Morne Steyn from the bench with half an hour left.

Not only did O'Brien help himself to 18 points in the 38-22 victory but he managed the game wonderfully, kicking to the corners and spreading play delightfully.

Such a controlled performance makes it something of a surprise that the fly-half has only really established himself in the Dragons side this season, and that has been helped by others' injury misfortune.

Dorian Jones missed the first half of the campaign with a groin problem while Nick Macleod's promising start was derailed when he suffered an ankle injury at the Ospreys in October.

O'Brien had to step up and has produced the goods, growing in stature thanks to 12 of his 16 appearances coming with 10 on his back.

He will be a leading figure when the Dragons take on Brive tomorrow afternoon (kick-off 2pm) and hopes to enjoy the Stade Amedee-Domenech as much as he did the Stade Jean Bouin.

"We seem to like playing out in France and have had a good few games out there," he said.

"We know what we've got to do out in Brive and have been working hard to ensure we have hopefully another good victory.

"We go out there with nothing to lose and everything to gain (in France). We go out there with a bit less pressure, we express ourselves and it's worked in the past.

"Brive are a strong side with a lot of big, physical ball carriers that we have to be aware of but they also play with a bit of width and like to throw it about.

"We have to go there prepared for everything but just have to impose our game on them and then hopefully do the job.

"We have to build our way into the game and when the opportunities to come we have to be clinical to finish them off."

The Dragons need to win either 5-1 or 4-0 in match day points to top Pool Three and leapfrog Brive to earn a place in the quarter-finals.

A tense tussle is in the offing and O'Brien will have to thrive from the kicking tee if they are to stand a chance of repeating the exploits of 2015 and 2016.

He said: "It's a big game for us and have to win to qualify for the next stages, which we've done for the last two years. That's a place we want to be and we feel we are good enough to be there."

The teams are named at midday.