Dragons Q & A part One PART 2 NOW UP

Soutj Wales Argus

Q: How would you sum up last season? DE:

It was a poor season in terms of results, particularly at home, but I was pleased with the derby wins against the Ospreys and Cardiff Blues.

Against the Blues there were nine players in their first season of professional rugby and it is important players develop confidence to believe that they can win these games.

Last season was always going to be about change, and change can be uncomfortable for many people and in particular our supporters who will only see the end result.

Welsh rugby and the Dragons have gone through major changes behind the scenes that has had huge impacts on the team and our planning and preparation.

I am confident that we now have clarity in terms of a business plan and we have a group of players with huge potential.

Q: Why was our home form so bad this season? The Connacht and Treviso games made me wonder whether to renew my season ticket. (Andrew James)

DE: There is no getting away from it, those defeats were inexcusable and it’s important that we pick up our home form this season.

Treviso was actually a pretty decent performance in that we scored four tries but we conceded such silly points. Connacht was a diabolical performance.

RA: It’s tough because we have long-term plans and always just look at the here and now. The supporter pays their money and understandably want an immediate return.

But for us as coaches it’s not that simple, as was shown at the end of last season when we were blooding a lot of players.

Nobody likes losing and they were massively disappointing defeats – but they will stand us in good stead. Sometimes you learn most as a group when you don’t perform to your best.

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We are confident this year that we will have more hunger on the pitch than perhaps we showed at times last year.

RB: Our supporters are entitled to ask this question and our board asks us the very same. There were so many tight games at home that we ended up losing and that shows the fine margins of sport.

It’s frustrating because had we beaten Connacht and had we beaten Treviso then we would have had a totally different end to the season with the Blues under pressure for their Heineken Cup spot.

But we didn’t and these guys have reviewed that. Losing home games like that is not acceptable to us and we have got to get back to Rodney Parade being a hard place to come.

Don’t worry, our coaching staff is working incredibly hard and they beat themselves up after defeat, looking at hour after hour after hour of footage in order to get things right.

Q: Do you have to worry about the commercial aspect of losing such games in terms of ticket sales? At the end of the season a number of our readers said they were in two minds about renewing.

RB: It’s chicken and egg – you want to sell something but you have got to invest to make that product good.

We probably are not at the stage where we invest enough for those players the supporters are asking for but we have gone down the route of investing in talent from within.

The model that we have decided to use is sound. It makes good business sense but we need to perfect it from last year.

Some of the performances weren’t up to the expectations of our coaches but we don’t think we were a million miles away more often than not.

Q: What are we doing to improve our scrummaging? Surely we can find a big prop from Italy or Argentina (Nick Williams)

RB: I have submitted a request for the Welsh Rugby Union to change our coaching structure because (forwards coach) Danny Wilson decided to move on.

We need to alter our structure and part of that process we have to have dialogue with the WRU. I am right in the middle of that and have submitted a job description for the perusal of Warren Gatland.

The major discipline of that job description surrounds coaching of the scrum.

DE: We have got some very talented front row forwards here and we really want them to get the best service.

Q: On that front, how did the Tim Ryan deal come around?

RA: It was after a deal for Deacon Manu fell through but Tim really impressed us in the Challenge Cup games we played against Cavalieri Prato.

He was a dynamic ball carrier and has a real passion for the scrum. He is a very aggressive guy who is determined to come here and do a job, he’s not here to make up the numbers.

Tim is a very determined man and we are excited about what he will deliver. We’ve done our research and he has a good pedigree.

What we need to do is work with him now and we are specific about what we have brought both Tim and Ian Nimmo here to do.

DE: I actually think that we have got a stronger squad that will constantly be fighting for selection and that we can put a more balanced side out. We have got a good mix ball carriers and workers.

Q: We have lost many games due to a lack of consistency from our kickers. Could Neil Jenkins be used for some training sessions? (Paul Ireland)

DE: Yes, we are using Neil and plan to do so more next season, we’ll see what we can work out with him now that he is back from Australia.

It’s great to not only have his advice but also develop a link between him and our young guys that we want to play for Wales.

We also have Alex Lawson who is a very, very good technical coach. He is our head of conditioning but has a passion for kicking and is going to do a very good job (Lawson is a former fly-half).

I think a key factor for us in terms of improving in this department next season is having two kickers on the field at the same time.

That was a big part of our recruitment strategy and it’s great to have brought in two full-backs in Dan Evans and Tom Prydie who can take on the responsibility, while Adam Hughes has worked hard and worked his way into that bracket as well.

Even the very best kickers have off days and when they happen you need someone else who can step up to the mark. I’m confident that we have the players to do that now.

There’s also a competitiveness amongst kickers – the player with the best record will get on that teamsheet. That’s great for us and we have to encourage that battle.

Q: Are there any moves to make the Dragons a development region? (John Janssen)

RB: No. That is totally unacceptable to the rugby department. We will continue with our policy of developing young players but there is no chance of us being a ‘development region’.

Q: One of the weaknesses of the Dragons is at scrum-half yet you have a young player in Jon Evans who shows great promise. Why does he get much less game time than the other two? (John Pope)

DE: It was a disappointing season for Jon because he came back from 2011 Junior World Championship in Italy and injured his hamstring.

It took him six months to recover from that and that is crucial for a young player, particularly when he missed pre-season when we needed to put a lot of physical work in.

Jon played a season of catch-up but I have huge faith in Jon and I am looking forward to seeing him compete with two senior guys in Wayne Evans and Joe Bedford.

Jon has tremendous athletic ability and needs to learn off those guys and demand that he is the first choice scrum-half.

He is a powerful, quick guy with a great pass.

Experience is vital at half-back and Jon does need a lot of exposure now, he needs to play a lot of rugby and hope that is with the Dragons.

RB: Last season he actually went away after Christmas with the Under-20s for the Six Nations and as a region we have to support that.

If we are honest we would have preferred had he not gone away for the (2012) Junior World Championship after having such a disrupted season.

In some ways we would have liked him to have a full summer to prepare for the season with us but there is a bigger picture.

We have got to support the Welsh Rugby Union in terms of producing players and this is also his last chance to play for the Under-20s and it’s in a world tournament in South Africa – hopefully we will reap the benefits of what he has experienced out there.

We all have a lot of faith in Jonathan, he is in the second year of a development contract and now needs to be pushing on.

DE: Regarding our scrum-halves, I think Wayne was not as effective as the season before but it is unfair to pick that out in isolation because he had two superb years before that when he was playing terrific rugby that allowed plenty of other players to shine.

It happens in rugby players’ careers, they have campaigns where it doesn’t necessarily go their way, particularly at half-back where you are reliant on many other aspects of the game to function.

It was perhaps an average season by Wayne’s standards but I have no doubt that we will see a response from him because he is under pressure to perform – that happened in 2009/10 when Wayne was on the fringes of the Wales squad after Danny Lee signed.

Q: Why has it not been possible to give Tonderai Chavhanga more ball? He is always dangerous but the ball is too often passed to the left. (Paul Ireland)

RB: Aled Brew could shout louder!

DE: We are actually planning on playing Tonderai on the left this year but the bottom line is that we do want to get him more ball.

I think our backs suffered last season through us not being able to be consistent in selection because of injuries.

That affects your timing and your work as units. There was also a bit of lack of form and as coaches we have to take some criticism.

That’s the reflection process we have gone through but we certainly want to put that right next season.

RA: We should also remember that Tonderai suffered a pretty big setback when he picked up a rib injury against the Ospreys (in January). He had just been settling in and picking up his form but from then on we just saw flashes, like the try against the Blues and the two he scored in Edinburgh.

Q: What steps, if any, are being taken to improve the defence? Is it a coincidence that the four teams with the worst defences (points scored) finished in the bottom four? (John Janssen)

RA: The way that defences are ranked is actually measured in terms of tries conceded and we moved up to seventh, level with Heineken Cup finalists Ulster, from 10th so I feel that we made a significant move forward.

Defence is the ugly part of the game and get it wrong and it’s clear for all to see. On the whole we were pretty good. We still had slip-ups – Treviso away was horrendous – but I think the foundations are there.

We actually had one of our best defensive seasons for a while but that doesn’t mean we are not striving hard to improve.

It was also pretty pleasing to hear when Wales came back from the World Cup that Warren Gatland said some of the defensive processes they brought in were things that we have done.

IN PART TWO TOMORROW: The coaches answer questions on recruitment, the Premiership, their budget and hopes for the coming season


Part 2

Q: Did we leave our recruitment too late? I worry that other teams had their pick and we got the leftovers? (Andrew Jenkins)

RB: This has been an unusual year for recruitment. Normally it would all be done in January or by February but because of the uncertainty in Welsh rugby all the regions have been in the same boat.

We (the regions) have not been in a position to make a decision on budgets or what direction each of the businesses is going in, and to be honest that is still ongoing.

I think we will continue in the way that we have but it has been an unusual year.

It hasn’t made my life easy but, with the exception of Charteris and Brew, we have retained every player that we wanted to retain.

We made some tough decisions on some players while other decisions to release were obvious. We made a decision to run with a 38-man squad, cutting from 57. We will probably end up at 42 but we were initially looking at a core of 38 players that we can register for Europe.

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We weren’t looking for that much.

We were looking for a second row and offers were made for Lou Reed (who has joined Cardiff Blues), Dom Day (Bath) and Damien Welch (Exeter). We made offers for those locks and they decided to go elsewhere.

RA: We are realists and there is only a certain amount of money that a player is worth and when they start pushing up there is point where you have to say no.

You have to balance it all up and if you overextend in recruiting in one position then you are in trouble elsewhere.

We also recognise the importance of giving players opportunities rather than always bringing in others ahead of them. The likes of Jevon Groves, Sam Parry, they need their chances.

RB: We also made an offer for Deacon Manu, which was accepted but he backtracked. I understand why because of family reasons. But we made serious offers for what we considered to be experienced players.

That leads on to a point made by one of our readers Andrew James, who feels that seasoned performers are needed to help the youngsters progress and also to win games.

DE: Rugby in Wales has changed massively in recent years and we are not going to be buying ready-made players at the top of their game.

We have got to be very careful in who we recruit and we put a lot of work into that.

As coaches we are confident that the players that we bring in have room to grow and that we can help them improve, hopefully into top class players.

RB: When I first came into this job there was a massive criticism that the region was wasting money on overseas players. There was a conscious decision to move those highly-paid players on.

Some of them provided value for money, others didn’t. As a business, if you get it wrong at that level you are in trouble. If you get it wrong at the other end, the hit isn’t as bad.

But there is a huge effort from Darren and all of the other coaching staff in terms of firstly identifying the talent and secondly trying to help them develop, fulfil their potential and put in performances that our supporters enjoy.

RA: There is a sprinkling of experienced players throughout the squad in Steve Jones, Rob Sidoli, Adam Jones, Lewis Evans, Andrew Coombs is a seasoned back row forward.

That’s just in the forwards. In the backs there are experienced players like Tonderai Chavhanga and Ashley Smith.

But also we exposed a lot of young players to regional rugby last season and they will be better for that.

RB: Exactly, the likes of Lewis Robling have got a season under their belt through design. The moment we knew what was happening with (Cardiff Blues-bound) Jason Tovey the coaching team made a conscious decision to go with Lewis and Steffan Jones, who unfortunately got injured.

That was not for cynical reasons towards Jason, it was always with the next season in mind.

And I’m not sure the likes of Lewis can be considered young in rugby these days – players are representing Wales at his age, it’s just they need experience of regional rugby.

DE: Lewis’ athletic and technical ability on the training field is of a great standard. But there’s that exposure on the pitch. You need to get these young players out there and we have done that.

We also need everybody to have an opportunity to grasp a starting shirt; there is no pecking order.

Young players can thrive in a competitive environment where they know they have the chance of earning the start, and with the players that Rob Appleyard mentioned I feel we have the experience in key positions that can help them along the way.

Q: How do you think our new signings did last season? I was disappointed with Andy Tuilagi and Joe Bedford (Nathan Dark)

DE: The recruitment of Joe was not purely with what he does on the field in mind.

Joe is a good, solid player. I brought him in because he had an experienced scrum-half above him (Wayne Evans) and an inexperienced one below (Jon Evans).

I felt, and feel, that it’s a good fit and Joe is great around our training environment. He runs our discipline and is great with our younger players.

Regarding Andy, he was not in good physical shape when he arrived and had a poor season, there is no hiding from that.

He didn’t hit the standards that he should have last season but there is plenty of evidence out there about what he can do in the field. Andy has the ability in him and we’ve got to get that out of him.

He is back in for pre-season but forget all the conditioning work that’s been put in – he needs to perform on the field and if he doesn’t produce the form that we know he is capable of then he won’t have a job here next season, simple as that.

Andy made plenty of line breaks last season even though he was off-form. He has something that none of our other players possess but he needs to perform consistently.

He is not putting in the shots for us that he has for other teams – like his tackle against James Hook for the Pacific Islands against Wales – it’s in him but he needs to do it for the Dragons now.

Q: What will it take to sign up some Cross Keys players? People like Gerwyn Price have been in great form and look ready to step up. (Chris Lanigan) Q: Are we looking to recruit many players from clubs in our region? I don’t necessarily mean 19 to 20-year-old but those that have performed consistently over a few seasons but have never had the opportunity to train full-time to gain the level of conditioning that they perhaps lack. (Nathan Dark)

RA: Having coached in the Premiership I am well aware of the talent out there and Darren has always asked me to keep a close eye on how our professionals are doing and also anyone else with potential.

I watched so many games last season and you start to see standout players like Gerwyn Price at Cross Keys, Newport’s Hywel Stoddart, Pontypool’s Dan Robinson and Ross Wardle at Bedwas.

What we decided to do was have an open policy for them, allow them to train with us over the summer and almost go on trial.

There’s not always the guarantee that a player who is superb in the Premiership will be able to make the step up required of professionals in training let alone games. Some of their bodies can’t take it while some can’t combine being a professional with their lifestyle outside of rugby.

This is a five-week trial to see how they go and then we will assess them on a weekly basis to see if they are shoulder to shoulder with professional players and improving all the time.

Potentially there are contracts there for these guys and we have been impressed with what we have seen so far.

RB: I would stress that this is not a new phenomenon and that the Premiership has always been a vital pathway for us.

We look closely at players and there are plenty of examples of them getting a chance here – Lloyd Burns, Jevon Groves, Andrew Coombs and Tom Riley to name but a few.

Q: Surely we have plenty of room in our budget after the exit of senior players? (Andrew Jenkins)

DE: I understand why our supporters think there is a lot of money left in the pot for high-profile players after seeing the likes of Luke Charteris, Aled Brew and Tom Willis go.

But our younger players also need more and after being given a budget we need to work out the best way of putting together a squad.

RB: Young players have financial expectations and they increase when they start hitting the levels of performance that the coaches have asked for, they start knocking on my door.

You have to reward players for producing, for example Nathan Buck played 27 times last season after starting down the pecking order.

The salary cap (agreed by the regions) is £3.5million and we will be £7/800,000 under that. Some supporters may criticise that but that is our business plan.

We’d be doing cartwheels in the rugby department if we were given £3.5million but the simple fact is that we have to live within our means.

Q: Martyn Thomas and Jason Tovey are two of the most exciting backs that I have seen at the Dragons. How can players of this calibre be allowed to languish and not progress? Surely if they are good enough to attract the interest of Gloucester and Cardiff Blues they should have been essential to the progress of the Dragons? (Allen Lloyd)

RB: We entered contract negotiations with both players but agreement couldn’t be reached and they have ended up elsewhere. As Rob (Appleyard) said earlier, as a business we have valuations of what every player is worth and how far we will go in negotiations.

At the end of the day, perhaps we needed a change and they needed a change and we wish them all the best.

DE: I enjoyed working with them but you also have to look at who we have brought in and we have recruited two international full-backs in Tom Prydie and Dan Evans who I am sure the fans will enjoy watching play.

Q: What are your aims and hopes for the coming season?

DE: We need a significant step up in performance as a team and as individuals within that team. I have no doubt that this squad have ambition, it is now about realising that ambition on the field.

We need to make an impact on the league, as that will dictate what European competition we play in.

Our away form is a huge goal for myself, as we need to understand the importance of away league points. A league table is judged over a course of a season, so a league point in September could be the difference in qualifying for Heineken Cup in May.

I now have a management team with me that have clear goals and ambitions for us to take a step forward as a region.

It was extremely difficult last season for a variety of reasons. We have conducted an extensive review of our environment that we work in and the performance elements of our game plan to make sure we show signs of improvement next season.

There has been a significant step change here at the Dragons both on and off the field to make sure we are all working towards common goals.

Q: What improvements are you hoping to see?

DE: It will always be about the game on the weekend, so our performance as a team and results will be very important to us.

I would like to see the Dragons as a region and the individual players in our team make an impact on Welsh rugby.

I am hoping to see a working partnership develop with our regional teams that are part of the pathway the player will go through into the professional game.

This mindset is important that we identify, develop and support players through that pathway into regional rugby.

Growing your own talent and supporting and enjoying their performances on the professional stage should be what it’s all about.

Thanks for the post, good read.

Dim problem, part 2 now up

diolch/thanks munkian.

Have to commend the Dragons Management for their frank and honest answers. If I was a Dragons fan I would find it a slightly depressing read. The few areas of concern if I was a Dragons fan would be that reasonably average players like Reed, Manu, Day, Welch, Goodman(later signed for London Scottish) have rejected the chance to sign for them. Stating that they would not be signing any “ready made players” probably means that Jason Eaton won’t be signing, or an experienced TH? Also classing players like Lewis Evans as experienced would worry me too.

Hope the Dragons do have a good season next season ( apart from when they are playing us of course) and the likes of Prydie, Evans, Robling, S Jones, Parry etc excel

pioden gorllewin wrote: The few areas of concern if I was a Dragons fan would be that reasonably average players like Reed, Manu, Day, Welch, Goodman(later signed for London Scottish) have rejected the chance to sign for them.

I didn't read it like that at all. The reasonably average players mentioned came to the Dragons with what were considered unreasonable wage demands given the Dragons' own valuations of them as players. Bonker mentioned the Dragons had been burned by paying over-inflated wages before and not getting value for money, particularly on overseas players, so it seems they have learned their lesson which is positive news.

pioden gorllewin wrote: Also classing players like Lewis Evans as experienced would worry me too.

Really? Lewis Evans has played nearly 100 games for the region, has twice been called up to train with the senior international squad, has captianed the region and coaches the under 16s. Sounds pretty experienced to me.

That's an interesting read, Munk.

Darren Edwards's comments about Andy Tuilagi surprised me: on the one hand, he says, "Andy has the ability in him and we’ve got to get that out of him", then he goes on to say, "if he doesn’t produce the form that we know he is capable of then he won’t have a job here next season, simple as that." I can't imagine Tuilagi taking that as a vote of confidence!

valid points motif.

i guess when i think of experience i think of players such as paul tito, filo tiatia, stephen jones, tom wilis,adam jones, gethin jenkins etc..but can understand how you see 100 region games as experience too.

Good post - on the one hand I think the Dragons are taking a really refreshing and honest approach - sending a letter direct from the top saying that the Dragons are in for a tough sort term, but they value their fans and if the fans stick with them then they can and will improve. Getting players to phone season ticket holders and this honest interview.
It all does send out a message about wanting to connect to the fans and be on the level with them.

But other's can see it as depressing and slightly desperate.

Personally I must say that although originally questioning about the letter/players phonecalls, the more I think about it the more I think it's a very good idea

Whose our ex MMA winger that's been laid off with injury ? Always liked his style, hope he manages to get through physio.

His name is on tip of tongue...

mike "pooley" poole.

I'm probably very wrong about this but something is tickling my memory about Mike Poole not recovering well from his injury/or his form not being good enough so he'd gone back to Newport/Cross Keys or been released - really can't remember the details but thought I remembered hearing something.

Like I say I could well be wrong and it's my memory playing silly buggers with me again

Ah , Pooley, course it is

And yeah , the coaches have said his rehab will be hard and contract will depend on his recovery but if anyone can do it he can