BERNARD Jackman believes the attacking verve shown by his Dragons young guns in Italy last weekend has given them the belief to end their Guinness PRO14 away hoodoo at Zebre today.

The Rodney Parade endured last-kick heartbreak when beaten 29-27 at Benetton in Treviso seven days ago, a disappointment that stretched their three-year league losing streak on the road to 32 games.

They have one last chance to shatter the curse before 2018/19 when they take on their fellow strugglers Zebre in L'Aquila today (kick-off 4pm).

The manner of their loss in Treviso has provided them both with motivation courtesy of a controversial scrum penalty and belief thanks to a comeback from 26-6 down at half time.

Tries by captain and lock Cory Hill, wing Jared Rosser and centre Connor Edwards earned the lead and had head coach Jackman purring about the Dragons' style.

"We played some of our best attacking rugby since December," said the Irishman, whose side's last PRO14 win was against Southern Kings in September.

"The way that they fought back gives us real hope that we can go to Zebre and get a win, whereas before Benetton we didn't really have a recent away game to use as a barometer.

"We were more competitive and now, after a good week of training, we can try and get that monkey off our back by getting the win.

"Zebre have been decent at home as well this year, so it's not going to be easy, but the way that we played in the second half has given us confidence because it was back to the sort of rugby that we played at the start of the season."

Nine of the 26-strong squad that travelled to Italy for the double-header have made professional debuts this season and Jackman was pleased that young guns were to the fore in the comeback.

"(Fly-half) Arwel Robson plays very flat and that brings everyone else into the game, while Connor Edwards really stood up and was excellent," said Jackman.

"If Aaron Wainwright was our find of the first half of the season then Connor has been our find of the second. In the last few weeks he has just got better and better.

"We brought a very young squad to Italy and speaking to other players, it takes around 10 games to get up to the level of pro rugby, then likewise when you play international rugby very few hit the ground running.

"For us it's been great to see the guys like Jared Rosser, Arwel Robson and others get a feel for it.

"We have to be patient with them and understand that they will make some mistakes because of the speed of the game, the size and power of the opposition plus their inexperience.

"But they are starting to settle a bit now, especially when we have the likes of Cory Hill and Elliot Dee around them."