.THEY don't come any tougher than Leicester, warns Newport Gwent Dragons coach Paul Turner ahead of tonight's Powergen Cup Anglo-Welsh clash at Rodney Parade (7.10pm).

The twice European champions and current leaders of the Guinness Premiership table bring a host of talent with them to Wales for the first game in the new-look competition.

Apart from British Lions trio Julian White, Graham Rowntree and Ollie Smith, Leicester parade former All Black centre Daryl Gibson, current England squad members Harry Ellis and Andy Goode at half back, 20-year-old wing sensation Tom Varndell, who is in the England sevens squad, and the Deacon brothers, lock Louis, an England A cap, and flanker Brett, a former England Under-19 captain.

"There is no tougher ask than Leicester coming here," said Turner. "They have also had three years of success in the A League and for a game against Northampton A last season on a Monday night they had a crowd of 10,500.

"They have nurtured youngsters through and with a lot of experienced players alongside them in a so-called second team they went to Leeds last week and won.

"Leicester are unique and I know from my days at Sale and Bedford they have managed to keep the old Leicester Tigers ethos.

"If you were a foreigner you were coming from outside the city of Leicester. But they have done a marvellous job bringing them in and instilling into them their traditions and philosophy.

"People who come up through the ranks play for the jersey and for the club, it's the tradition they've managed to keep and they've won European Cups with it.

"We're in our infancy, the region is only three years old, but if we're going to take a leaf out of anyone's book it's got to be Leicester's."

But Turner says the Dragons are not worried by Leicester and will take them on looking for a win after three successive defeats, which is the only way of bringing the crowds back to Rodney Parade.

"The Tony Brown era brought the crowds in. We've got to play quality football and be successful to try to get them here every week," he said.

"We're not worried by Leicester, we've got good players here who are playing well as a unit. We've got a smallish squad but with the injuries we had two weeks ago six internationals were sat on the touchline.

"Now we need to bounce back after last week. I didn't expect us to lose against Ulster, I was looking for a win.

But we've got to move on, the boys have responded well this week and I'll be looking for a committed performance against arguably the best side in Europe.

"We don't go into any game lacking confidence and this one is part of our development as a squad. It's like the old Wales-England fixtures. it's mouth-watering but another game and confidence is high.

"As Alex Ferguson said this week it gives us an immediate opportunity to get back and try to win. The team Leicester have picked is a mark of the respect they have for us as well."