KINGSLEY Jones praised the steel of his Newport Gwent Dragons side for the 14-man defensive stand that helped secure their Guinness PRO12 victory against Treviso.

The Dragons were comfortable 26-8 winners in challenging conditions at Rodney Parade thanks to tries by Sarel Pretorius and Lewis Evans, taking the spoils to climb above Edinburgh into ninth in the table.

However, they had to stand firm when leading 10-8 at the end of the first half while Pretorius was in the sin bin for a deliberate knock-on.

Not only did they soak up plenty of Treviso pressure in the 22 but they escaped and stretched three points away thanks to a booming Angus O’Brien penalty.

“I was pleased with lots of the game,” said head coach Jones. “The start, giving Treviso a try like that from a kicking error, was the last thing we wanted but the positive thing was the way that we reacted to it.

“The critical moment was before half-time when we got a yellow card but defended well to stay in control, not only that but took three points. I know from being on the other end of that how it can be a killer blow.

“I was a little bit disappointed with the last 10 minutes, we could have gone for the jugular, but you have to celebrate a good win against a team who are down there with us and had 13 internationals in their starting line-up.

“Nobody said it was going to be easy because they are a team that pick their best players when going to Zebre and the Dragons, coming for the win, so we did well.”

The Dragons’ five-game winning streak in Newport was ended by the Ospreys on New Year’s Day but with Enisei next up in the European Rugby Challenge Cup and then Newcastle in the Anglo-Welsh, there is the chance to go on another run at home.

“The score wasn’t what we wanted against the Ospreys and we were disappointed to come away with nothing but runs come to an end and we have to start it again,” said Jones.

“We are looking upwards in the table and we need to keep chasing Connacht. We’ve got some hard fixtures coming in the rest of the season but we look forward to them and have to make sure we keep winning at Rodney Parade first.”