THERE will be no repeat of Perpignan, promises New-port Gwent Dragons prop Adam Black going into Sunday's crunch Heineken Cup-tie against Newcastle at Kingston Park.

The Dragons achieved a superb bonus point victory over then French Championship leaders Perpignan at Rodney Parade last month, then headed for Catalan country full of hope the following week only to be crushed at the Stade Aime Giral.

That also happens to be the same fate that befell Newcastle, so the Dragons are not alone in getting clattered in Perpignan, but Black insists there will be no repeat this time.

"Don't put too much on that Perpignan game, we're a better team even since then," said Black.

"We may not have performed when we went there and Perpignan exploded for the first 25 minutes when they bombarded us minute after minute, but not many teams have gone there and and done as well as us in the second half.

"I'd like to think we can take on any pack in the country, and I don't see any difficulty in going to Newcastle. I think we've got a better pack than them.

"Going to Newcastle will be totally different from going to Perpignan. We didn't deserve to win there despite our second half performance, but we did deserve to beat Newcastle at Rodney Parade."

It will be a return visit to Kingston Park for Black as he has appeared there for Sale and Wasps.

"I've played there several times," he said. "It's in the middle of nowhere, and the crowd want to see a good game which makes it more special.

"It's going to be a game for the forwards and we've got to take it to them. There's not too much for us to be worried about and we've got enough artillery to get the upper hand."

Blacks says the Dragons are attempting to play a different style, and believes it's working.

"We're trying to play a new style by slowing it down," he said. "We've been working on it and things changed last week against Edinburgh.

"We're really confident, we've got to take the game to them and hope they play a slow game, we need to attack them."

Coach Chris Anderson agrees the Dragons have made progress since their visit to Perpignan. "We're a bit smarter going to Newcastle," he said.

"We've learnt from the mistakes we made there, we didn't handle the intensity too well then. Why we can't take our form at Rodney Parade away is beyond belief.

"But we need to go out there and play with plenty of confidence and believe we can beat anyone. We need to go out there and do our best and if the opportunity comes to score four tries we need to take it.

"All they have to do is win so it's easier for them. But they still have to win so they can't be too negative.

"I'm not sure how they're going to approach it, they're missing a few players. But I'm confident that if we play well we've got the players there who can score tries."

l The Dragons' Celtic League game against Glasgow at Rodney Parade a week tomorrow has been brought forward from 5.30pm to 2.30pm to avoid a clash with the tsumani disaster appeal concert at the Millennium Stadium that night.