THE Dragons continued their upward surge since Darren Edwards took the reins with a hard-fought 18-3 victory over Aironi.

The Dragons were determined not to become the first victims of Aironi in the Magners League but a lacklustre opening half saw them lead by just six points at Stadio Luigi Zaffanella.

But they produced a far more accomplished second-half performance, with Tom Riley and Aled Brew scoring the crucial tries. The victory in northern Italy sees the Rodney Parade out-fit rise to seventh in the league.

"I’m very proud of that win, you should be proud of every win but to get four in a row is brilliant. Consistent performances is something we are always looking for, and after four in a row I feel we’re in a position where we can challenge anyone," Edwards told the Argus.

"With the conditions here we knew our forwards would be up against it.

"They have a big pack that take some beating.

"You have to respect that and grind them down and I thought we did that.

"The forwards did well, the back three complemented that and I thought the half-backs controlled the game really well.

"Next week is another huge test, this is one out of three away games in a row and we have to try to carry it on."

The Dragons started the game brightly, with Martyn Thomas displaying his side’s attacking intent early on with a piercing counter-attack. But they were unable to turn their early pressure into points.

The Dragons’ perennial Achilles’ heel, the scrum, surfaced as early as the tenth minute as they were turned off their own ball, but they survived the ensuing onslaught unscathed.

The hosts had the first opportunity to score after 17 minutes, but Tito Tibaldi was narrowly wide of the target. The enterprising Dragons played from deep as Aironi dominated the territorial battle but they were let down by poor handling.

A rare venture into the Aironi half on 25 minutes saw the Dragons awarded a penalty after Brew took a crash ball and Tovey duly slotted the penalty to break the deadlock.

Three minutes later from virtually the same midfield spot and again he was accurate to nudge the Dragons into a 6-0 lead.

Aironi could have halved the Dragons’ lead on the 33rd minute but Tibaldi hooked a straightforward penalty attempt. The home side continued to press Darren Edwards’ men as errors continued to hurt the Dragons, but they showed great grit and determination to hold Aironi out and go in at half-time 6-0 up.

But poor handling continued to be a problem for the Dragons and Joe Bearman dropped the ball from the re-start. The Men of Gwent were then penalised and Tibaldi got the home side off the mark with his first penalty.

But on the 57-minute mark Riley clinched the crucial try to put the Dragons into a ten-point lead. Harries made a trademark counter-attack to put his side in a promising position.

After several phases Tovey picked out Riley with the pin-point cross-kick, which he then converted.

Ten minutes later the Dragons grabbed a second try to put the game out of reach with Tovey again the provider. This time he slotted through a grubber-kick into the corner, which Brew re-gathered to score.

The Dragons dominated the closing stages but they were unable to extend their lead.

Scorers: Aironi: Pen – Tibaldi; Dragons: Try – T Riley, A Brew; con – J Tovey; pen – J Tovey (2); Aironi: J Laharrague; K Robertson, G Pizarro (G Pavan, 69), H San Martin (M Pratichetti, 58), G Toniolatti; J Marshall, T Tebaldi (P Travagli, 60); Al De Marchi (An De Marchi, 58), R Santamaria (T D Apice, 52) , F Staibano (L Redolfini, 69); J Furno, M Bortolami (cap); J Erasmus (N Cattina, 58), G Krause, N Williams.

Replacements: (G Biagi) Dragons: M Thomas (A Hughes, 58); W Harries, T Riley, P Leach, A Brew; J Tovey (M Jones, 75) , W Evans (M Petri, 75) ; P Price (H Gustafson, 77) , L Burns (S Jones, 60) , D Way (B Castle, 65) , R Sidoli (S Morgan, 68) , L Charteris, L Evans, J Bearman, A Coombs (H Ellis, 75).

Yellow – A Coombs (64).