Dragons Team to face Chiefs!

http://www.newportgwentdragons.com/newsarticle.aspx?n=19970,

glad to see tovey back in, forwards need to front up in this one, i like the look off that backline! it could do some damage!

I like the look of the side overall. Nathan Williams looked really good against Glasgow, in the loose at least. I really hope there's a good turnout for this match, although scheduling in on a Sunday evening won't help with that.

Lewis Robling went to my old school, so he must be an excellent player!

I am home this weekend and will be going (also off to watch Ebbw tomorrow) and that is more like the side I was hoping to see.

Still think we miss Smith in the centre but Tuilagi and Hughes has nice balanced look to it.

I forwards (front row espeially) will really need to front up to the Chiefs and at least give our back row and backs parity.

Lovin' the backline! I expect Tuilagi to have a stormer. An all welsh front row with great potential.

Good stuff, smash em early - we only gave em 20 minutes last game and all they could do is drive and kick.

Dragons need to start running the ball in the right areas, they seemed reluctant to just clear their lines against the chiefs last time out. When they started playing what was in front of them and sending the carriers down route 1 at the right times, they enjoyed a lot more success.

It's a strange one, Comfort, towards the end of last season we had a much better sense of when it was and wasn't on to run from deep.

Tovey has a better rugby head than Jones, more experience anyway - it hopefully shouldn't be a problem this week

It's a huge boost that we have Aled Brew back again, he and Tovey have a great understanding. How many tries did he score last season from Tovey kicking through?

luckless_pedestrian wrote:It's a huge boost that we have Aled Brew back again, he and Tovey have a great understanding. How many tries did he score last season from Tovey kicking through?

lots.

Did you notice Steffan constantly kicking to the empty space where Brew would have sprinted to in the first half ?

I missed the first half (in a taxi lost in the wilds of Devon) and didn't get to Sandy Park until the second half, but if that's true he should have had a word with his winger after the first time there was no chaser.

Did it about 5 times. Maybe he kicked it too deep

Jones may well be the future but he has come unstuck a few times in last couple of games and Tovey just has that extra experience that will hopefully see us get a win.

We'll also have Chavanga sprinting at monkey boy - hopefuly it will make him panick a little.

That's it, Bedford, it might just be too soon for Steffan. He had a great game against Wasps but that was a second-string Wasps side.

Wasn't exactly our first team against the Wasps either but Steffan needs more game time before he can be relied upon

Agree Tovey should make the difference tactically, his kicking could be lethal with Brew/Chav chasing.

Really happy with the way the regions are coming round to working though, not long ago at all we would have seen an average NWQ player being back-up to Tovey, but now they're giving the young guys like Steffan a chance, its excellant to watch as they mature season by season.

Priestland is a prime example.

as i said on another post i believe the exodus of top wlesh players abroad does have one benefit in that it frees up space for the youngsters coming through, especiallynow that the academies seem to be working,

problem specific to the dragons though we dont appear to have a young lock ready to fill the gap, the blues have two in james down and mcauley cook, perhaps nab one to loan for a year?

Didnt the blues lose a lock fairly early on to a nasty leg injury ?

I doubt they'll be in a position to lend us anyone

That team is more like it!Optimism has broken out in my household.Cannot wait.

i was talking about next season munkian, and yea actually i think it was downes who got injured, but for me if we havent got a young lock who is ready to fill in next season and we cant sign outright another welsh lock id rather loan one if then sign a average NWQ

Lock and please a T/Head. Can anyone who has a bit more info on the goings on down at Dave know if we made or even spoke to Mitchell before he signed for the Chiefs?

munkian wrote:Didnt the blues lose a lock fairly early on to a nasty leg injury ?

I doubt they'll be in a position to lend us anyone

Downs is out for the season

The Blues will also probably lose Tito and Deniol next season so we will keep Downs, Cook and Hill thank you....

I think we did, Bedford, but I can't say for certain. Plenty of Dragons fans were talking about him at the time, anyway.

looks like well be dipping into the prem again, keys seem to be going well what are there locks like?

Tidy looking side but it's all well and good saying "our backline looksgreat" when we can't provide them with good ball.

How many times (not just last week) have we been turndover orhad a forward knock on in midfield. The pack really need to step up and cut out the errors. Tovey will keep the score board ticking over and with the amount of pace in out backline we can always score trys from broken play.

I expect a dull 10 point win.

luckless_pedestrian wrote:I like the look of the side overall. Nathan Williams looked really good against Glasgow, in the loose at least. I really hope there's a good turnout for this match, although scheduling in on a Sunday evening won't help with that.

Lewis Robling went to my old school, so he must be an excellent player!

My school too (Caerleon right?!). I know his mum!

I thought he went to Gwynllyw (the Welsh school)?

Ah, you're probably right Luckless. He's from/lives in Caerleon so assumed he'd gone there like Ashley Smith. My bad!

No problem Griff, I'm just chuffed someone from my old school is actually good at rugby!

luckless_pedestrian wrote:I think we did, Bedford, but I can't say for certain. Plenty of Dragons fans were talking about him at the time, anyway.

lp,

Not sure if we could have even competed with the Chiefs on salary but with him having just broken into Welsh set up I think we had made a good offer then the attitional advantage of no Cluv v Country row would have been bit of a sweetner to.

bedford, Exe are far from the wealthiest team in the AP, are member-owned, and don't knock up against the AP salary cap, and run a balanced budget (marginally profitable last season) - so I'm not sure that CM will be getting that much more at the Chiefs - from what I heard, he just really liked the set-up and the ambitions of the club

Aslong,

Well if that is the case I do take my hat off to him, he obviously knew he would get caught up in any CvC row so nice to see someone going for love of the game so to speak.

Still wish we had nabbed him though.

Someone on here said Mitchell turned down the Dragons because of the facilities

Wonder what he will be thinking come the 6 Nations if Gatland sticks to his guns and doesn't pick from outside Wales then.

Maybe it's just that Craig Mitchell came to Newport by train and walked past the Greyhound on the way to Dave Parade - the clientele there might have put him off straightaway!

Is this free-scoring Dragons back line the same one that they play in the Rabo? I've watched it many times, but must have left the room for the bucketful of tries - silly me!

As, we were the 4th highest try scorers in the league last year out of 12. The Ospreys, Scarlets and Leinster scored more. That probably says more about our rubbish away from and try conceding skills than anything though as we ended up in 7th place and were the only team in the whole league that didn't qualify for the HC!

Griff, I notice that you're using 'qualify' in its broadest sense!

Yep, qualification is really tough for some teams

Griff wrote:As, we were the 4th highest try scorers in the league last year out of 12. The Ospreys, Scarlets and Leinster scored more. That probably says more about our rubbish away from and try conceding skills than anything though as we ended up in 7th place and were the only team in the whole league that didn't qualify for the HC!

Griff, meant to say, glad you didn't quote this season's stats at me!!

As, I feel that a full seasons stats paint a better picture than 3 months worth!

Quite right, my friend