Baber's the man with a Dragon slaying plan.

The Vale resort is further off the A48 than I thought. Still, I get there half an hour early. The car park at the Blues/Bluebirds pavilion is full. I park next to three powerful Mercedes stallions. The Pavilion is a block built building as you might find on a technology park. Magnolia. The surroundings are pleasant enough on the flat of the Vale. Green. Lots of trees and post and rail, no people in sight. 

I'm slightly at a loss as to what I'm going to do as I park up. I open the door and am taken by a chorus of shouts. The Blues are having a training session. Half in bibs, half without, all apparently shouting vital instructions to each other. Now I understand the need for communication but surely there comes a point where it all becomes counter productive.

Andy Howell arrives and strolls up to the front of the Pavilion. He is early too. I decide to follow him. 

The doors are huge, a 9 or 10 foot tall double set. Oak veneer and brass handles. They are closed. I turn the handle half expecting it not to open to the new boy without an electric key. It does. I stride towards an inner pair of glass doors, that stay resolutely closed under my palm. A cleaner lets me in. 

In the small ante room the plastic chair creaks under my weight. Mr Howell is there. He is engaging, interested in 606v2 to the extent that he writes down the web address.  There is nobody else.

Rhys Thomas is then brought in by the media director. He has been named captain for the Dragons match, Paul Tito being injured. 

His ears are cauliflowered, his knuckles show the signs of twists and dislocations. He has a big scar inside his knee. He has a smile like a gate and a jolly disposition.

"The loss to the Dragons was the lowest point of last year. We didn't expect to get beaten. The boys who played that game want even more to do the job this time. Aironi have done us a big favour.

They have good ball carriers; Brew, Tuilagi, Brown. They are missing some key players, but so are we. 

We will have young players in our team, some in key positions. The new Stand looked impressive and it will be an intimidating atmosphere for our youngsters. 

There's a well publicised changing of the guard here. Youngsters are coming through and some senior players are leaving. 

We split the season into blocks. The next block is three league games and the Heineken Cup Quarter Final. The Internationals will come back from the Six Nations in that time and the young players have an excellent opportunity to put their hands up for selection for the Leinster match"

Ross Harries joins us as the affable skipper goes back to his mates.

Gareth Baber was a spiky scrum half at Pontypridd. He looks like he could still be playing rather than coaching. It's clear the edge hasn't left him. He's like a bantam cockerel. 

He starts by telling us that Paul Tito was concussed in Treviso, Richard Mustoe has a haematoma on his hip and Casey Laulala has tweaked a hamstring. Apart from that he feels the squad is in good shape having had "some down time to refresh"

"we were pleased with the Treviso win. The one thing that took the shine off a bit was that we were comfortable at half time and we could have scored more tries.

This is an important game for us. We are 7th in the league and want to keep the momentum up until the internationals return. It's a crucial part of the season.

Cory Hill and Macauley Cook played in Treviso and did well. Lewis Jones at scrum half has been doing well in the squad, Harry Robinson has been involved in the National squad. The internationals have had a tough campaign in the six nations and the squad has a job of work to do before the quarter final becomes our focus. 

It would be good to make the play offs for the first time. It's an important marker of our progress. We need a run of wins in the league and this squad can play above potential.

The Dragons are missing players, but have threats across the field with Brew and Tuilagi. Tovey puts pressure on you with his kicking."

"We have a game plan to do a job on Thursday" said the former Dragons man "it's not nice losing to your local rivals and we are going there to beat them at their home" 

My driver's door is broken. As I opened it through the passenger side, a DB9 growled past with a young man in a tracksuit behind the wheel. I mustered my remaining dignity and went back to work.

Another well-written piece, Glas. Good networking, too, even if it was with Andy Howell!

I'm sure I don't know what you mean?

http://www.newportgwentdragons.com/NewsArticle.aspx?n=20728&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

teams named,

glad we are leaving out tovey, the buy has been a great servant and has good quality and i believe good enough to play for wales one day, but he has made his bed and should lie in it playing prem rugby for the rest of the season while we give robling and jones as much exposure as possible,

i like the look of the backline i think we may have the edge there, its whether our front five can deliver enough ball and keep rush and paterson quiet enough to win the game, i have the blues by 10 in my head but heart says dragons...

interestingly my robin davey, formerly of the south wales argus but who now writes for the dragons has tweeted that the dragons are looking for a 10,15 lock and TH and that they are looking at UK and ireland and SA for players

I can see the logic in playing Lewis Robling as he'll be around next season, but surely Tovey would have been the right choice for this match? He'd definitely be up for putting one over his soon-to-be team-mates.

Please God don't let Ceri Sweeney come on and win the game again!

the season is done LP lets start looking forward, robling and jones slug it out over the 10 shirt for remainder of season, tovey can rot on bench

There are two ways of looking at it. I'd say this match is so important in an otherwise disappointing season that we should be doing everything we can to win, even if that means playing a player who's off at the end of the season.

tovey hasnt been in form all year, has dropped off tackles and has seemed to lose his telepathic connection with brew, i dont see dropping him as too big a risk...

and why is it important other than for bragging rights?

the loyal band of 5000 or so supporters will still turn up week in week out if we lose or not

I'd have preffered it if you guys started with Jones over Robling. by far the better player and much more consistent with his kicking.

Disappointed Tovey isn't playing really, reckon this would have been a game to suit him.

It's important because they're our closest rivals and we've had such a poor season. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter too much, but I'd feel a whole lot better if we win tomorrow than if we lose.

yes i know but if we win with tovey completely winning the gme for us how you going to feel knowing hes off to our close rivals at the end of the season...

conversely if we win with robling at ten how much better will you feel knowing we have a young committed player good enough to take the reins next year?

give our youngsters (the ones who are staying) a chance is my opinion on this matter, although i do see your point we do need a win, i think we can do it with robling at 10 tbh, itl be won and lost up front tho lets hope our pack can do a job

GavinDragon wrote:yes i know but if we win with tovey completely winning the gme for us how you going to feel knowing hes off to our close rivals at the end of the season...

conversely if we win with robling at ten how much better will you feel knowing we have a young committed player good enough to take the reins next year?

I can't argue with that!

if you look at the other thread by welsh mushroom hes saying some interesting things about the selection...

maybe worth a merge mods?

http://v2journal.com/dragon-slaying.html

good read glas, thanks

Why thank you.

Decent looking backline for us dragons but I dout we will get much front foot ball.
I like the look of Roblin but I must say I'm more excited about steffan.

Last year most dragons fans felt we would win the game given the quality players like faletau n Tovey were showing.. This year is a different story. The back three are exciting but I can't see the pack making the hard yards and gaining quick ball against a decent blues 8. That said I have a feeling we will seek it by 3.