NEWPORT Gwent Dragons have never won on English soil in European competition but captain Rynard Landman says a pair of famous away successes has given them the belief to break their duck in Newcastle.

The Dragons have won over the border in the Anglo-Welsh Cup but never in Europe with 11 successive defeats to Leicester, Newcastle, Sale, Bristol, London Irish, Bath, Gloucester, Wasps, Exeter, Wasps and Bath.

They will try to end that nightmare streak when they take on the Falcons at Kingston Park on Saturday (kick-off 3.15pm) in a match that should decide the winners of Pool Three.

If the Dragons win and then turn over Stade Francais then they will have a home quarter-final while a combined total of five match points should earn a spot in the last eight as a runner-up.

But Landman want to top the group – "we don't train hard for five days to go in with the mindset of getting a losing bonus point" – and to claim another away scalp.

The Dragons are the only side to have beaten Stade Francais on their own patch this season and upset the odds in the capital on Boxing Day when they beat Cardiff Blues who like the Falcons play on an artificial pitch.

"We've won in Paris and we've beaten the Blues on the road, that gives us the belief that we can go away and get a win in Newcastle," said the lock.

"We are really positive because we felt that we dominated the game at Rodney Parade (when beaten 30-26) we just have to leave everything on the pitch."

The Dragons head to the north east on the back of a pair of derby defeats after being edged out by Cardiff Blues at Rodney Parade and the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium.

"I think that we are dominating the forward battles at the moment but it's just what we then do with the ball," said Landman.

"We lost the kicking game again against the Ospreys, Rhys Webb and Dan Biggar were really influential for them and controlled territory."

To that end the South African denied that the Dragons are kicking too much ball at the expense of having a crack, with London Welsh the only side to have a worse league try count in the frontline European leagues.

"We need to get out of our half and then play," he said. "As soon as we can get in their half with the kicking game we can play on the front foot, put them under pressure and score points."

Newcastle head into the game on a strong run in the Aviva Premiership that has seen them push Saracens and Northampton hard and drub London Welsh.

Falcons boss Dean Richards shuffles his side for the Challenge Cup and told the Newcastle Chronicle after their win against the Exiles: "From our point of view the bread and butter is still the league, and it always will be.

"Yes, we will throw our lot in with Europe but climbing that ladder is where the focus is."