Dragons v Blues Build-up Thread

[Luckless Pedestrian]

First topic message reminder :

Just thought I'd get the ball rolling ahead of Saturday's derby match. The Blues have a good record at Dave Parade and will be looking to get back to winning ways after losing at home against Edinburgh; the Dragons lost away to Leinster on the weekend but will have taken heart from scoring three tries at the RDS and will be looking to put in another winning performance at home.

What do we think? Who's going to come out on top?

[Cardiff Dave]

you must all have been watching a different game to me! I have never seen such a poor game in terms of basic skills in the contact - I mean how many turnovers?? "You have it", no "you have it", no I insist - "YOU have it". Then there were the lineouts - AWFUL for both teams - I mean what do they do in training all week?? The skill levels were a joke and both teams will get ripped apart by Irish, Scottish, English and French teams (and the Scarlets) on that performance. Terrible terrible game

You're being too generous. The game was far worse than terrible x 2.

[Morgannwg]

Nice to see the Wales stars playing well at least, even if their team isn't. S Jones, Tuilagi, Leach and Prydie looked good for us in the backs. I thought the whole pack did fairly well, wondering if the likes of Buck can improve though? Apologies to Nimmo who I said was probably a wasted signing, the guy's a machine.

Patchell looked poor for Wales Sevens but has looked good since playing at the Blues. He should keep Tovey out of the team with that form, or hopefully Sweeney out of the team and Tovey on the bench. Blues are a front row and midfield (which they have but don't use) from being a really good team.

[Guest]

That was without doubt one of the worst games I've seen at RP. It was garbage. Yeah, you don't expect much from a derby, but it was such a low standard game, not helped in the slightest by that ref. I wasn't too happy with a few of his decisions either, but I'll not comment on that properly until I watch it back.

I know it was only Zebre first game, but I thought we'd gone back to seeing passion from the players at home again. Add a derby into the mix and we should've been buzzing.

Not sure what flat atmosphere you were sensing Cari? Certainly not that early anyway. It petered out a bit around 65 mins, but other than that it was fine.

[Janecory]

Good game to watch...

Corrwg, Easily pleased, you really want to learn to up your standards, or open your other eye ! ffs !

[bedfordwelsh]

Honestly thought we would have won this game last night but we still need to find some props from somewhere.

Nimmo along with Prydie are 2 top notch buys whilst Tuilagi seems to be finding his feet and form now.

[glamorganalun]

I thought the Dragons would win this game but i have to say the Blues young lads were very good and out played the Dragons. The new Dragons players have improved the team as everybody knows they need a couple of decent props, their back line looks more dangerous than the Ospreys. I am not sure about the Blues props, they lookked OK against a poor Dragons front row.

I thought Toby was poor going back to dropping a simple catch and throwing a pass along the ground in good conditions but it is early days.

[Guest]

I'll be honest, I didn't think Danny and Toby were up to much really.

I am not convinced by the scrums and the legality of what happened there. I don't think Hennessy has a clue at scrum time either. Maybe the tv will show it more, though I'm not sure I can be bothered watching that dross again.

To us in the Hazell, it looked like Hennessy missed a Jamie Roberts knock on right before Cuthbert's try. But it hasn't been mentioned on here, so perhaps there wasn't one.

[munkian]

From what I saw of the first half the ref seemed to kill any attacking momentum we had. That and all our knock ons etc

[Impossible Standards]

Well I said in an earlier post that we should beat this blues team. Oh dear..... well here i am to eat my words. Well done blues. I guess you deserved it but i have to say that was one of the worst games of rugby i have seen for a long time. Basic skills from both teams were poor and the ref at times seemed inexperienced to handle this fixture. Dragons board really need to take stock of what is happening at RP, because the team looks lost for ideas.

[munkian]

I think that's a bit drastic , we had good attacking intent. It was a scrappy derby game made worse by a seemingly inept ref. Cuthbert saved the Blues who also had a better bench.

[Newsilure]

Not fantastic skills but I thought it was good fun to watch. Some encouraging points for both sides. Patchell was generally calm, made good decisions and kicked from hand well and long - certainly long compared to Sweeney. But I was also pleased that the front row did better, certainly Breeze's line out throwing was good and Trevett seemed to be winning on his side of the scrum....ok not against great opposition but still he showed promise.

For the Dragons I thought Dan Evans was a constant threat in attack, Steffan Jones looked tidy and Phil Price had a great game in the loose.

[Seagultaf]

What a poor game! Dreadful Ref who seemed to have no understanding of the game or the Laws.

Dragons were poor, Blues were dreadful but won!!!!!

Breakdowns were a joke, the Refs various interpretations of the Laws made them a total lottery, lets hope he does not get another chance at this level. The scrums also were a mess, the Ref had no control whatsoever.

For the Blues, Patchell, Warburton (assisted by some curious refereeing) and Tom Williams looked good also the young prop who came on during thye sin binning. For the Dragoms, Lydiate, Evans (full back) and the scrum half looked good. I thought Prydie cost them the game with a woeful kicking display, why did they not use the 10 who has allways looked a good kicker?

[I'mYoungerThanThatNow]

That was the worst game I have ever seen. Pathetic. The ref was an absolute disgrace. He wasn't helped by the players, granted, but in such a scrappy game, why would you go looking for even more infringements. If I had to look for any positives at all I would say this:

Warburton: Did well at the breakdown, looked to rob isolated Dragons players at every chance.

Steffan Jones and Patchell: Both looked decent enough when give the chance.

Almost every other player wants to do some catching practice in the week, practice passing the ball backwards, and also realise that supporting the ball carrier is essential.

[Guest]

I like Prydie as a kicker, but he seemed way too casual last night, particularly with that conversion.

Warburton did very well, but what do Dragons players expect, taking contact on their own?

If Cardiff Blues could wear a different kit next time, that would be great though. In the first half it looked like Prydie (I think) was running in, but he had one to beat. Somehow that Blues player got camouflaged into the Bisley Stand and a load of us in the Hazell couldn't see him.

I agree the ref was poor for both sides, but I also think (naturally) the Blues had the better end of a bad deal. That said, I don't think James Jones or the other assistant helped him out too much either.

[thebluesmancometh]

I think people are being way too harsh on both teams and the ref here!!

Granted the ref was being picky, wasn't a scrum expert (name me a ref, fan, coach or prop who is?) and made a few judgement calls at the breakdown.

I thought the Dragons back row, Dan, Toby and Shanks were excellent defencively, lots of slow ball, turnovers and they didn't half make their tackles. I thought Shanks got stronger and stronger until the 70 min mark when the Blues bench proved their worth.

Steffan Jones looks compitent, but his options are cut down a bot at present with no great platform and Tuilagis presence outside him.

Evans and Prydie classy but as I said offered little threat, not necesarily their fault though.

Blues backrow were good, Warbs defencively excellent (although targetted and roughed up a bit early on Dragons failed to recognise his threat) Navid was a bit of a neusance (that penalty against him was a joke call) and Pretorious carrying as good as Ive seen for a while.

Both Williams brothers need to be sacked, neither offer anything to the Blues side!!

Patchell was the guy I was looking forward to see, and boy did he impress, he seemed to display every technique taught to a 10, the deep kicking game, short kicking game, he reversed one, beat the line of first phase ball, drew in two and offloaded, very classy performance from him.

As I stated I liked the Blues bench and it proved the difference in the end of a scrappy game compounded by a picky ref, very close game but lots of rust!

[youngguns6]

..I'm still baffled n gutted. So disappointing that a mate of mine has just bought his first ever dragons season ticket and after missing the Zebre game I built this up as the greatest game of the season.. I think he was a tad underwhelmed.

It's the derby games that can convince half fans to commit their hard earned cash and come back for lesser games. I doubt we won anyone over.

Shame we can't see Toby playing behind a quality front 5 and our backs will always struggle on the back foot.


Blues man - Peydie quick enough last night?
Although his kicking was poor - what happened??

[youngguns6]

Sorry forgot to add

Well done blues, got the W and that's the main thing in a derby.

[Janecory]

Both Williams brothers need to be sacked, neither offer anything to the Blues side!!

!

Best and most accurate quote on this thread .

[offload]

Another dismal regional display, simply awful.

Yes the ref was poor, but two teams with handful of internationals were so inept at adapting to him. I lost count of how many penalties he gave for holding the instant the player was down and yet still they ambled forward one at a time. The overall lack of skill is shocking.

Bluesman, I think you've done well to find so many positives in that game. Both teams were clueless.

[XR]

Both Williams brothers need to be sacked, neither offer anything to the Blues side!!

Settle down, Flower. Tom Williams is in his first season with the Blues and did well in pre season, so he had a bad game? He'll learn and come back better, so why don't you have a nice relaxing cup of tea and mull over your overreaction.

Lloyd Williams has been poor for a while now, i want to see what the scrum half we signed from London Welsh is like - Rob Lewis.

[wales606]

Both Williams brothers need to be sacked, neither offer anything to the Blues side!!

Settle down, Flower. Tom Williams is in his first season with the Blues and did well in pre season, so he had a bad game? He'll learn and come back better, so why don't you have a nice relaxing cup of tea and mull over your overreaction.

Lloyd Williams has been poor for a while now, i want to see what the scrum half we signed from London Welsh is like - Rob Lewis.

Completely agree about Tom and
Rob Lewis, Tom did score a hattrick last time.

[thebluesmancometh]

He scored a hatrick in a mickey mouse game.

Lloyd has offered nothing since the age of 13 or so, His brother again decent juniors but they generally made the next age grade team because of their surnames.

I can name half a dozen juniors who could probably have gone on and played regional rugby above these two, and I bet theyre either playing youth rugby back at home or have been lost by the system!!!

Rob Lewis is first choice ahead of Lloyd IMO, he came on and was far more fluid, offered much more and most importantly didn't pick the ball up, jog 5 metres sideways looking like a rabbit in the headlights and get turned over.

Lloyd Williams has failed to impress me for the last few years, his delivery has never been that good, he is slow, doesn't react at all EVER to whats going on around him (go back and watch the Dragons front man lineout and the prop go 30 yards before Lloyd had realised what was even going on)

If these two can make regional and int rugby in Lloyds case then every region should open their academies to 2 more teams worth of players, limited or not they can be conditioned into athletes, and can run around like headless chackins ala Lloyd!!

OK I'll admit Tom hasn't been given a chance at this level yet, but on that showing he needs to become twice the player. If you take a high ball under no pressure with a linebreaker of Cuthberts quality beside you you give and support at least 1 in 6, the 1 time he did it Cuthbert broke the line. Instead he kicked long and high and offered Evans all the chances to look good in the world!

PS regarding Prydie, when exactly did he threaten the Blues line? Did I not say he and Evans were good but wouldn't have the gas to beat the Blues back 3, they didn't.

I'll give Prydie credit, he caught Cuthbert well but had the full back not needed to be rounded he wouldn't have stood a chance.

Prydies kicking wasn't great but he had a long season, U20WC and all that, he'll get there.

[wales606]

Rob Lewis hasn't played in the pro12 this season. The equally incompetent Lewis Jones came on in the second half.

[thebluesmancometh]

Ah wales you are right, thats not the first or will it be the last time I get those two mixed up...

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