DRAGONS coach Bernard Jackman hailed a professional job in Romania that sets up a mouth-watering Rodney Parade battle with European heavyweights Northampton, writes Chris Kirwan.

The region got their Challenge Cup campaign off to the perfect start against Timisoara Saracens, running in eight tries to bag a maximum haul in a 54-17 success.

The Dragons now have a long journey back, returning to Luton tomorrow evening, and a rapid turnaround to Friday night’s clash with the Saints, who were hammered 40-21 by Clermont Auvergne at Franklin’s Gardens this afternoon.

The preparation will be challenging – with just one major training day on Tuesday – but Jackman & Co came through their Romanian trip unscathed.

“It was a good professional job,” said Jackman. “We are happy to get an away win, eight tries and score more than 50 points, which the Dragons haven’t done for a while.

“It was a potential banana skin but we expected to win and now we can look forward to Northampton.

“Score 80 points like La Rochelle did in Enisei-STM (winning 82-21 in Krasnoyarsk) and people will say ‘what’s the point?’, so it’s a no-win situation.

“We got the five points, didn’t suffer any injuries and our attack got a really good run out after showing good signs against Cardiff Blues with Tyler Morgan getting back up to speed.”

The Dragons led 26-10 at half-time thanks to tries by captain and hooker Elliot Dee (2), tighthead prop Leon Brown and wing Dafydd Howells and they stretched away after the break with scores by lock Lewis Evans, flanker Ollie Griffiths, scrum-half Rhodri Davies and a penalty try.

“We scored points at the right time and we were comfortable, they just got two tries from intercepts,” said Jackman.

“I never really felt that we were in any danger and just before half-time we really got on top and scored two quick tries to get our bonus.

“The lineout maul was better, which had been a big work-on, and we got plenty of opportunities to kick to the corner.

“Lewis Evans called the lineout really well and we had a mobile pack that ran Timisoara around, creating a lot of opportunities.

“Now we can start preparing for Northampton and when we played them in pre-season we were really good for the first half.

“We then made a load of changes and they took us apart up front, so we know that is an area of strength for them.”

The Dragons are likely to bring back flanker Aaron Wainwright, hooker Richard Hibbard and scrum-half Rhodri Williams after they were rested for the Romania trip while captain Cory Hill, a replacement in Timisoara, will be back in the XV.