THE Dragons are ready for a Tigerish assault up front when they attempt to end their away day hoodoo in Edinburgh tonight.

The Rodney Parade region haven’t won outside Newport in the Guinness PRO14 since triumphing at Treviso in March, 2015.

They hope to end that nightmare 24-game losing streak at Myreside this evening (kick-off 7.35pm) in new boss Bernard Jackman’s first game on the road.

However, they are up against hosts who have a new man at the helm with former Leicester supremo Richard Cockerill aiming to build on an excellent 20-10 win at Cardiff Blues on opening weekend.

Scotland pair Ben Toolis and Hamish Watson have been added to the pack along with Italy prop Michele Rizzo and Dragons defence coach Hendre Marnitz is aware that the Edinburgh boss will have his forwards snarling in the Scottish capital.

“I was in Cardiff last Friday night and Edinburgh were very physical, their pack produces a lot of go-forward and energy for them. We need to front up,” said the South African.

“Richard Cockerill is a very good coach and is changing the culture of Edinburgh. We all know from his Leicester days that his forwards were always mean and keen, so it will be a good challenge.

“We know they will come at us for the physical battle so we have to make sure we tick our boxes, we need to make sure our set piece is on the money and we need to fight fire with fire.

“There is no shortcut when the assault happens up front, you need to make sure you front up.”

The Dragons have headed north on the back of a 39-16 home defeat to PRO14 title favourites Leinster in which the Irish province crossed for five tries.

Marnitz has had his work cut out this summer after only arriving in August for a quartet of challenging friendlies against Montpellier, Northampton, Exeter and Glasgow but he has been thrilled with the squad’s appetite for defence.

“I’d like a bit more time but the pleasing thing is the work ethic of the boys,” he said.

“They have embraced the system that I am trying to bring in and I haven’t had an issue with them not working hard.

“There are loads of boys coming in for one-to-ones and they want to learn and get better. You can’t ask for more.”

“We need to make sure that we up the line speed,” he continued. “If you look at the world trend at the moment it’s an aggressive line speed. With that comes extra fitness, extra physicality and more hits.

“We need to make sure we stay connected as a team and complete tackles – tackle accuracy is very important – and we need to make sure we get ball slowdowns, because the modern game is about momentum.”

l Team news on page 33