NEWPORT Gwent Dragons have gone a long way towards clinching a place in next season's Heineken Cup after their magnificent 23-17 victory over Munster at Rodney Parade on Friday night.

Though that was followed by rivals Ospreys pinching a narrow victory over Glasgow on Saturday courtesy of another last-gasp long-range Gavin Henson penalty, the Dragons' position has still improved considerably.

While they want to overtake the Ospreys at least among their Welsh rivals to secure automatic Heineken qualification, the fact that they are now above Connacht and Glasgow, the bottom two Irish and Scottish teams, means they are on course to secure at least a home play-off against the third-placed Italian team on June 2.

They are seven points above Connacht, who they meet in Galway on Saturday, with a match in hand, and two above Glasgow with two games in hand, and the Scots have gained eight points from two free weekends compared with the Dragons' four.

Dragons full back Aled Thomas, rapidly coming of age after switching from outside-half in the absence of Kevin Morgan, enjoyed his best game for the Dragons against Munster, playing his part in a stunning third try. "It showed how much we want Heineken Cup rugby next season, we desperately want to be there for ourselves and for the crowd to repay them," he said.

"Teams may have been underestimating us a bit, but they won't from now on. We've shown glimpses of what we can do and our form against Munster makes you think what we could have done with a bit of belief. "We'll build on that now and come out firing for the remaining games to get back into the Heineken Cup and try to be where Leinster and Munster are by getting into the last four.

"Perhaps I can do a job at 10, but I'm enjoying playing at 15, I'm getting opportunities.

"We could perhaps have secured a bonus point against Munster, we had our chances. The forwards were immense and the defence was brilliant, everyone played to his potential."