NEWPORT Gwent Dragons, now just one place off the bottom of the Magners League, have to take on a near full strength Leinster side who will clinch the title if they win at the Dublin Showground on Saturday night.

The Dragons slipped another place to ninth in the table after Ulster's victory over Munster on Wednesday night and only Connacht, who beat them at Rodney Parade last month, are now below them in the table.

Somehow the Dragons have to stay ahead of Connacht if they are to avoid the ignominy of finishing bottom of the pile and missing out completely on a Heineken Cup play-off - if it goes ahead.

The Dragons face the daunting task of home and away matches against runaway leaders Leinster and the Ospreys at home in between. Connacht have home fixtures against Cardiff Blues and the Ospreys to finish.

Given that the Ospreys will be without a dozen Welsh players for their last two fixtures because of next week's training camp in Ireland, the Dragons' best chance of at least staying where they are will come against their Welsh rivals.

Leinster are a whopping nine points ahead of Cardiff Blues at the top of the table, needing just a victory against the Dragons to make sure of the title, and the game is already an 18,000 sell-out.

It's a mighty task for the Dragons, though they will be heartened by their performance last time out against the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium when they were only just denied a losing bonus point.

But Dublin is a heck of a place to go for the Dragons if they are to end the worst run in their brief history - seven games without success made up of six defeats and a draw.

"When I saw the fixture list I though it didn't make much sense with back-to-back games against Leinster which is a difficult assignment," said Dragons coach Paul Turner, who implements the first stage of the three-year plan accepted by the board next season.

"The players have been made aware that they need to get things right and the first 20 minutes will be about attitude which we showed in abundance against the Ospreys last Friday.

"Leinster are the form team with two massive props who carry the ball, form players like Malcolm O'Kelly, Jamies Heaslip and Keith Gleeson and guys like Brian O'Driscoll and Felipe Contepomi behind, so we'll have to be at our best.

"We're playing two of the best sides in Europe and three games in six days is not easy so I've mixed the squad around a bit in the hope of getting something out of it.

"There's still a lot of quality here and we'll be looking to the players to dig deep. Last Friday senior players stood up and a lot of young players came to the fore.

"We had Dan Lydiate last season before he got injured in Perpignan, then Jason Tovey showed good composure in a difficult game last week.

"In the first year of the plan I was looking to bring Southern Hemisphere talent and leadership in looking at our overseas and foreign quota, then in the second add more quality and still develop young players and then in the third year with a new stadium we'd have a squad strong enough to deal with European competition."

Turner has made eight changes as he juggles his resources for two games in four days, Ceri Sweeney recalled after pulling out late last week with a rib injury, centre Gareth Maule playing his first game for five months because of recurring knee problems and Richard Fussell coming in on the left wing.

Steve Jones starts at hooker with Adam Jones and Peter Sidoli at lock and Michael Owen and Jamie Ringer starting in the back row, Ringer for only the second time since Christmas.

Team: K Morgan, G Wyatt, P Emerick, G Maule, R Fussell, C Sweeney, A Williams, A Black, S Jones, R Thomas, A Jones, P Sidoli, J Ringer, M Owen, R Parks. Replacements from: B Daly, L Harrison, A Hall, J Harris, L Evans, P Dollman, R Mustoe, J Tovey, W Evans.