NEWPORT Gwent Dragons full back Martyn Thomas is back with a bang, aiming to put the misery of the last nine months well and truly behind him and help the side climb the Magners League table.

They face Edinburgh at home on Saturday then Aironi, Glasgow and Munster away, but the Scottish and Irish opposition will be well below strength because of international commitments.

The Dragons will go in on the back of two morale boosting wins in the LV Cup against Sale away and the Scarlets at home which has made them the only Welsh region to reach the knock-out stages of a competition this season.

Thomas romped away for two tries against the Scarlets, showing he has lost none of his pace after the dreadful injury when he broke his leg in five places, dislocated an ankle and damaged ligaments in the penultimate game of last season.

“It’s massive to be in a semi-final (they face Gloucester at Kingsholm on Sunday, March 13 at 1pm), anything can happen when you get to a semi-final and we can take a lot of confidence from this,” he said.

“We struggled at the start of the season when we had injuries, but it’s great to have Joe (Bearman) and Matthew (Watkins) back as well.

“We’ve got some momentum going into the Magners League now. Edinburgh and Glasgow will still be quality teams but we hope to get some wins and move up the table.

“It was a great performance in Sale winning there, we can get a lot of confidence from that and the crowd can be our 16th man.”

Thomas says he is delighted to be back after such a lengthy spell on the sidelines when his future was in doubt, though he refused to accept it and says he never despaired about returning.

“It’s a massive relief, nine months is a long time and just to get back out on the pitch is fantastic,” he said. “I need some more matches under my belt now and I did start to cramp up a bit after 70 minutes against the Scarlets.

“But scoring those two tries was massive for my confidence and I hope to kick on from here, though the tries were down to the team, not me.”

The Dragons were without a number of key players on Sunday and they are waiting for the outcome of fitness tests this week ahead of the Edinburgh match.

Watkins suffered a head injury and could not resume for the second half while there are question marks over tight head prop Ben Castle, who has a knee injury, and flanker Gavin Thomas, who suffered a nasty facial injury at Sale and nearly lost his front teeth. But loose head Phil Price and centre Tom Riley should be back after being out with head and rib injuries, respectively.