DARREN Edwards is putting region before country this weekend as Newport Gwent Dragons chase a fifth successive victory for the first time since 2004.

Apart from being interim head coach of the Dragons since Paul Turner was initially suspended and then departed, Edwards is also the Wales Under 20 chief.

And there is a clash of interests coming up with Wales Under 20s playing their Italian counterparts this weekend as a curtain raiser to the main event while the Dragons meet Glasgow in another crucial Magners League match at Firhill on Friday night.

Edwards has opted to travel to Scotland with the Dragons rather than Italy with the young Wales team.

“It’s my decision and I’m going to Glasgow, I’ve dropped out of the Wales Under 20s trip. This is my day job and I’m out of contract in four months,” explained Edwards who has taken up the reins in succession to Turner on a short-term basis.

“I think I’ve got to keep things nice and steady here. We are playing well, we’ve got a good balance in the side at the moment and we’ve got to be confident.”

The Dragons have now beaten Sale, the Scarlets, Edinburgh and Aironi on the bounce, the first two in the LV Cup to put themselves in the semi-finals, the only Welsh team to reach a knock-out stage of any competition this season, while the latter two wins have lifted them to seventh place in the Magners League.

That, coupled with the Scarlets losing successive matches against Connacht and Ulster, puts them in a position to challenge their west Wales rivals for a Heineken Cup place next season. They now stand 11 points behind with two games in hand.

The last time the Dragons won four times in a row was two-and-a-half years ago when they beat Ulster, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Glasgow and they are now chasing five successive victories, a feat they last achieved in 2004.

“We’ve got to be proud of achieving four wins in a row in a tough league,” said Edwards.

“Having two away wins in the league (a first against the Ospreys the other) is key for us.

“We’re competing at home but to have any standing in the league you’ve got to win away.

“The next three weeks will challenge that (the Dragons face leaders Munster in Cork after the Glasgow game).

“But we will have only one day’s training this week, a team run and then we’ll have to play again on Friday. It’ll be tough mentally, but the boys are in a good place, they’re really on the button at the moment.”

Edwards was full of praise for the untried front row trio of Phil Price, Lloyd Burns and Dan Way in Sunady’s 18-3 victory over Aironi.

“They did really well, they are three guys who are new features to our game and they were really good,” he said.

“I can’t believe how well Dan played, he’s a serious one for the future and Phil demolished his opposite number again.

“Wayne (Evans) and Jason (Tovey) were outstanding with their control, as were our back three. Aironi kicked the ball a lot and we ran it back at them, it was a good team performance.”

But the Dragons will be without full back Martyn Thomas against Glasgow. He has just returned from a serious leg injury which kept him out for nine months, but has tweaked a hamstring for the second time in successive matches, probably a result of over-eagerness.