RHYS Thomas has called on Newport Gwent Dragons to summon the spirit of Dublin 2015 to upset the odds at Guinness PRO12 leaders Munster on Friday.

The Dragons will be huge underdogs at Musgrave Park this weekend against a side who have won 12 of their last 13 to earn a home European Champions Cup quarter-final and set the pace in the league.

However, the Six Nations gives the Dragons a fighting chance with Munster having 13 players in the senior Ireland squad.

And hooker Thomas says a similar situation at Leinster on February 15 two years ago, on the same day that Warren Gatland’s Wales beat Scotland in Edinburgh, gives them reason to believe they can upset the odds.

“It’s an opportunity for us to go out there and impose the way that we want to play on them and there is no better time to play them if we are totally honest,” said the former Wales front rower.

“We lose an important player in Cory Hill and we are without Ashton Hewitt (because of Wales duty) but they lose a hell of a lot more.

“They had to make plenty of changes for Edinburgh last weekend but won and will try and squeeze us, but we get excited at this time of year when all of their big dogs are not playing.

“We were in a similar position two years ago when we went to Leinster and beat them. That turned our season around.”

However, Kingsley Jones’ men have not won on their travels this season and have not won away from Rodney Parade in the PRO12 since beating Treviso in March, 2015, a losing streak of 20 games.

With challenging trips to Cork, Galway to face champions Connacht and Scotstoun to play title contenders Glasgow coming up, the vice-captain admits they need to get over a mental barrier.

Thomas said: “We did it at Leinster and have done it in European games, the away wins have just been few and far between. I wish I had the answers but it’s as much a mental thing as anything else.

“The fact we are even talking about our away form adds to it and we need to get the monkey off our back. It’s doing everyone’s head in and this is an important block of games for us.”