MIKE Ruddock tonight takes his Newport Gwent Dragons team to the Swansea ground where he spent six years and is expecting the equivalent of a cup final.

The Dragons are pushing for the title, lying in second place in the Celtic League table eight places and 17 points ahead of tonight's opposition Neath-Swansea Ospreys with a lot resting on the outcome.

If the Dragons triumph and Ulster lose at bottom side Glasgow, the Dragons will go to the top of the table.

But the Ospreys are desperate to gain revenge for an early season defeat at Rodney Parade because they are now so far adrift of their Gwent rivals (17 points) that they are in severe danger of becoming the last placed Welsh team in the league, which would mean them playing in the second tier Parker Pen competition in Europe next season.

That danger has become greater considering Cardiff Blues' revival which has seen them edge ahead of the Ospreys, so a home win is vital for them tonight.

"It's another huge game for us and it's away where we have not always been at our best, but we're determined to get a result," said Ruddock.

"They will be scrapping for their lives. Cardiff have now gone ahead of them and they realise they could be in the Parker Pen, so they will be fired up. It'll be their cup final."

Ospreys coach Lyn Jones clearly doesn't expect the Dragons to go in for a free-flowing game.

"It has always been our intention to play expansive rugby, but it takes two to tango," he said. "We were hot favourites to go to Rodney Parade and win, but we struggled. But the Celtic League is about stopping people playing, as well as playing our own game."

And Ospreys assistant coach Sean Holley warned, "We've been looking forward to playing the Dragons since they beat us up there."

Dragons ace Percy Montgomery, who makes his first appearance at St Helen's for almost a year when he was suspended for pushing a touchjudge over, says the team must get into the habit of winning away.

"We want the points, too, and we have got to get it into our mindset that we have to win away," he said, adding that he's happy enough playing at outside centre rather than his normal full back position.

"I'm taking it game by game, I'm playing outside centre for now, I'll just see where I'm best suited."

Montgomery has the second best percentage of successful kicks in the Celtic League. He has put his last seven over and 17 of his last 20 for an 85 per cent success ratio ahead of Ulster's Paddy Wallace but behind Neil Jenkins who has incredibly kicked his last 28 goals.