NEWPORT Gwent Dragons will take inspiration from November’s victory in Glasgow as they attempt to avoid a Valentine’s Day massacre in Dublin on Friday night (kick-off 7,45pm).

The Gwent region make their 11th trip to the Irish capital to face Leinster still in search of their first away win against the current Rabo Direct Pro 12 champions.

But centre Pat Leach is relishing the chance to put an end to that record and he cites the Dragons’ 23-8 triumph away to high-flying Glasgow as the blueprint for success on Friday.

“We need to just do what we did in Glasgow,” said the 28-year-old.

“We took their game to them and it will be similar conditions in Dublin. It was wet and windy up there and we need to do what we did in Glasgow.

“If we do that I think we found it is doable to win away from home,” he added.

“We’ve always been pretty decent at home but it is important to get some wins away from home and we are definitely focusing more on that now.”

Leinster will be missing a host of Irish internationals but Leach is under no illusions as to how tough it will be at the Royal Dublin Society.

“It’s always tough against Leinster,” he said. “They’ve got a strong squad and even with some of their Irish boys out they’ve still got a strong team.

“They’ve got a good gameplan and a good structure so whoever comes in just fits into that straight away.

“But it’s a big game and you always look forward to the big games,” he added.

“It’s a massive game for us because if we can do well over there then it helps us going into the back end of the season.”

And Leach is looking forward to playing in front of a passionate home crowd at the RDS.

“We’re lucky here at the Dragons because we’ve got such great support and it’ll be similar in Dublin,” he said.

“It’s great to play over there in front of a big crowd. It’s enjoyable and as soon as it kicks off you can’t hear the abuse so you can just concentrate on enjoying the game.”