Gwent Dragons 2013/14 thread

by Guest Tue 18 Jun 2013, 7:24 pm

First topic message reminder :

A place for general Dragons chat, etc.

After renewing my season ticket recently, and with Lyn Jones being unveiled as the new DoR (yeah I know, some people thinks he's gash, but whatever), plus the training facilities at Ystrad Mynach, I feel a bit of a buzz and optimism around the Dragons. Saying that I do generally get a feeling of optimism pre season every year which usually goes by about mid October!

Just watched the Wales U20's get to the final of the Jnr World Championships and a couple of lads looked really good - Jack Dixon a rock in midfield, Hallam Amos an elusive runner at FB/wing and Ieuan Jones looking like a very good prospect at 8. Will be good to see how the go next season for the Dragons. I think their regional appearances have certainly helped them in this Jnr cup in terms of experience. Looking forward to seeing them play with the likes of Faletau, Coombes, Talei, T Rhys Thomas, etc. next season.

Anyone want to make a stab at our strongest matchday 15/23 for next season? Will have a stab myself after a bit of thought.

by dragon4life Wed 26 Mar 2014, 1:34 pm

munkian wrote:Adam Jones mun

Forgot about him

by dragon4life Wed 26 Mar 2014, 3:15 pm

http://mobile.newportgwentdragons.com/News/Article/33627

by Jhamer25 Wed 26 Mar 2014, 7:21 pm

Another reason to sign at least 2 new locks. Adam Jones wasn't much but he was probably the second best thing you had behind Coombs
Hill looks promising, Screech has failed to impress me yet, Sidoli should be the next to retire then you have captain Coombs
Watch the Curie cup and sign two big bruisers who are on the verge of Super 15 rugby. We did in Earle and Snyman and look at how much our pack has improved. We have really good depth at secind row now Jake has come through.
Front 5 signings are crucial to your success

by dragon4life Thu 27 Mar 2014, 9:33 pm

Any ideas on the tight 5 player we are going to sign?

by munkian Fri 28 Mar 2014, 8:42 am

No word yet though Lyn has states he is 'working on it'

by doctornickolas Tue 01 Apr 2014, 12:26 pm

www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/newport-gwent-dragons-sign-veteran-6901379

Two new members of the Rodney Parade Sunshine Home for Old Front 5 Players.

by bedfordwelsh Tue 01 Apr 2014, 12:31 pm

Am still wondering if this is an April Fools or not.

by doctornickolas Tue 01 Apr 2014, 12:33 pm

bedfordwelsh wrote:Am still wondering if this is an April Fools or not.

I did wonder before posting but I think it's true. Ryan Jones congratulating him on twitter. Who knows.

by VinceWLB Tue 01 Apr 2014, 12:35 pm

I can't believe the Dragons didn't go after Gough for this season after the Muller deal felt through.

As for Young, it was said he could feature last year with Zebre as a permit player (played for Lazio) but didn't, not sure if he is any good.

by bedfordwelsh Tue 01 Apr 2014, 12:42 pm

VinceWLB wrote:I can't believe the Dragons didn't go after Gough for this season after the Muller deal felt through.

As for Young, it was said he could feature last year with Zebre as a permit player (played for Lazio) but didn't, not sure if he is any good.

They should of gone for him when he left the Os, if true I still think its a good move even if for a season.

by munkian Tue 01 Apr 2014, 2:24 pm

They did go for him but deal fell through apparently. Lynn seems to be able to attract players back.

by Jhamer25 Tue 01 Apr 2014, 4:20 pm

Ok good signing, a year late though. not impressed on the tighthead signing, he is 29 has never really reached the heights of aviva/rabo rugby and ha been paying for a second division Italian team and it playing for a team fighting relegation in the English premiership. No the answer, will probably be another Chapparo. I don't want to judge him really until i have seen him scrummage but his CV doesn't look very impressive. Fair to say, i don;t think he will solve the scrummaging problems.

by munkian Tue 01 Apr 2014, 4:23 pm

I'm still wondering who the over seas player is

by Scrumpy Tue 01 Apr 2014, 4:38 pm

Good signing for Newport if he still has some life in him. Wink

by Guest Tue 01 Apr 2014, 5:56 pm

Great signing, who will add some much needed grunt and dog to our pack. I can't believe anybody could pick up on the age thing, when our best front five player recently has been Duncan Bell.

by The Saint Tue 01 Apr 2014, 7:16 pm

It's not really helping our front 5 issue long-term to be honest. They'll have to do this all over again next season.

by dragon4life Tue 01 Apr 2014, 7:33 pm

In one of the articles I read he has been signed to do a similar job as Duncan Bell, just keep the scrum steady and thats it

by dragon4life Tue 01 Apr 2014, 7:35 pm

As Kingsley mentioned on scrum V a few weeks ago a lot of the dragons players have 2 year contract so goughy could just be cheap and we wait till next year when we have more money to sign a longer term lock

by munkian Tue 01 Apr 2014, 7:59 pm

It is long term in the sense they'll be training younger players

by The Saint Tue 01 Apr 2014, 8:01 pm

Not even Goughy or Duncan Bell could even turn some of those lads into scrummaging units...

by **George Carlin** Wed 02 Apr 2014, 10:21 am

Hear rumours on Tinternet that Dragons may have signed Dave Young as prop.

That's a smart move, if so, he was very good for Edinburgh and his time in Italy has apparently done nothing to diminish that reputation.

Can anyone confirm whether this has gone through?

by munkian Wed 02 Apr 2014, 10:23 am

George Carlin wrote:Hear rumours on Tinternet that Dragons may have signed Dave Young as prop.

That's a smart move, if so, he was very good for Edinburgh and his time in Italy has apparently done nothing to diminish that reputation.

Can anyone confirm whether this has gone through?

Seems like its a done deal

http://www.newportgwentdragons.com/News/Article/33715

by Jhamer25 Wed 02 Apr 2014, 4:53 pm

Im still waiting to here whats happening with Rhodri Jones and Rhys Gill. Both are in the open not being used or regular starters in their club. It just makes sense to target them two more than any other players on the earth. It won't only benefit the dragons but welsh rugby as a whole. pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese Lyn no journey men.

by dragon4life Fri 04 Apr 2014, 2:27 pm

Are we any closer to signing Rhodri Jones?

by GavinDragon Sun 06 Apr 2014, 8:23 am

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/11129550.Steelmen_secure_return_to_Premiership/?ref=rss

good news from the region

by Guest Sun 06 Apr 2014, 1:36 pm

Yes very good. It's pretty ridiculous that it has taken this long to get up there. They were clearly a step above Championship level last season, so it's silly they had to play another one at that level.

by munkian Mon 07 Apr 2014, 8:35 am

Yup, congrats to them !

by Scrumpy Tue 08 Apr 2014, 2:15 pm

Sorry to disappoint you guys but Henson will not be a Newport player next season.

by Jhamer25 Tue 08 Apr 2014, 4:29 pm

There already covered, i just think he would have let them down. I wouldn't be too gutted about it.

by bedfordwelsh Tue 08 Apr 2014, 8:12 pm

Scrumpy wrote:Sorry to disappoint you guys but Henson will not be a Newport player next season.

No need for apologise I am also glad he won't be a Dragons player next year. In his report Lyn Jones we should know by tomorrow night where he will be playing, so what does he know?

by munkian Fri 11 Apr 2014, 8:31 am

Dragons snap up South African lock Ligtoring Landman

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/11141347.Dragons_snap_up_South_African_lock_Ligtoring_Landman/

by Guest Fri 11 Apr 2014, 12:23 pm

Sounds a bit of a unit. We won't be wanting for weight in the rows next year with Goughy back too

by Guest Fri 11 Apr 2014, 12:25 pm

Covers blindside too. Good stuff.

In other news, Clancy is reffing us this weekend again. Woohoo.

by munkian Fri 11 Apr 2014, 1:55 pm

Risca Rev wrote:Covers blindside too. Good stuff.

In other news, Clancy is reffing us this weekend again. Woohoo.

FFS

We can haz new ref now pls ?

by munkian Fri 11 Apr 2014, 1:57 pm

In other news, Coombes is out, Lewis Evans in

by Jhamer25 Fri 11 Apr 2014, 3:37 pm

I have seen this guy a few times and he is just what you need; Trust me. He is in the mold of George Earle and Snyman down our end. Will add a lot of strength to your pack and is available all season. Very good signings guys. Ian Gough, Coombs, Gough and then the devloping Screech and Hill is a promising looking bunch of locks for next season. Two more props and your sorted and can start building for next year in europe. Just get Rhodri and Gill down your end now and you have a strong looking pack who can give Taulupe a platform.

by munkian Fri 11 Apr 2014, 4:00 pm

Biltong rates him, always a good sign Very Happy

We shouldn't wait till next season for improvement though, really need to end this one with some positivity

by The Saint Fri 11 Apr 2014, 9:44 pm

Just the sort we need. A few more like that would be nice.

by dragon4life Sat 12 Apr 2014, 1:49 pm

Last year we tried to sign Malaki Fekitoa from Auckland and now he looks set to become an all black soon. We didn't sign him because the WRU wouldn't allow it.

by dragon4life Sat 12 Apr 2014, 7:54 pm

Another loss. 45-27 poor performance played well last 20 mins though but not good. Somethings going wrong.

by bedfordwelsh Sun 13 Apr 2014, 8:26 am

First off at home Treviso are no push overs but that aside I season is really finishing with a mighty whimper again.

It promised so much early on but its back to the same old order of us near bottom and looking like being 4th out of the Regions.

I still think Jones and Jones are the right pair to take us forward but somethings wrong at the moment, hopefully with our signings for next season we can have a better one.

by GavinDragon Sun 13 Apr 2014, 8:37 am

I agree with you Bedford If you look at the signings next year I think we will see a marked difference...

should see some of the posts on draggedup though!

Out of curiosity anyone know what current players are moving on/out of contract at the end of the season? The ones I know of are:

Ieuan Jones to Blues
Dan Evans to Ospreys
Adam Hughes to Exeter
Adam Jones retiring

by bedfordwelsh Sun 13 Apr 2014, 8:58 am

Am sure Will harries is on his way out to

by Guest Sun 13 Apr 2014, 9:30 pm

I don't bother with Dragged Up any more. There's too many people who go overboard on the criticism, that I feel obliged to go over the top with praise for a bit of balance.

Lyn Jones is as good a coach as we could hope to attract. We wouldn't have signed players like Byrne for a start. Also, it's not his squad yet. I think he's right that we did catch teams out at first. We are getting quality in for next season who will make a huge difference to us. For a start, people like Brew and Byrne will give us a bit more spark in our backs, the two lock signings should give us a harder edge and I think once a few of the players who have known they are off have left, it'll make things a bit better.

I'm not wasting a day down filling Roger's pockets for them next week though.

by **Notch** Sun 13 Apr 2014, 10:38 pm

munkian wrote:Dragons snap up South African lock Ligtoring Landman

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/11141347.Dragons_snap_up_South_African_lock_Ligtoring_Landman/

What a name!!

by munkian Mon 14 Apr 2014, 8:20 am

GavinDragon wrote:I agree with you Bedford If you look at the signings next year I think we will see a marked difference...

should see some of the posts on draggedup though!

Out of curiosity anyone know what current players are moving on/out of contract at the end of the season? The ones I know of are:

Ieuan Jones to Blues
Dan Evans to Ospreys
Adam Hughes to Exeter
Adam Jones retiring

I reckon Sidoli will go too

by dragon999 Mon 14 Apr 2014, 9:41 am

Risca Rev wrote:I don't bother with Dragged Up any more. There's too many people who go overboard on the criticism, that I feel obliged to go over the top with praise for a bit of balance.

Lyn Jones is as good a coach as we could hope to attract. We wouldn't have signed players like Byrne for a start. Also, it's not his squad yet. I think he's right that we did catch teams out at first. We are getting quality in for next season who will make a huge difference to us. For a start, people like Brew and Byrne will give us a bit more spark in our backs, the two lock signings should give us a harder edge and I think once a few of the players who have known they are off have left, it'll make things a bit better.

I'm not wasting a day down filling Roger's pockets for them next week though.

Couldn't agree more about Dragged up Rev - What these guys fail to see is that Lyn has hacked some squad members off because they are simply not good enough & will be gone as soon as - he inherited a squad which he is trying to strengthen within budget which can not be that easy but players already known to be coming in will improve squad overall & help bring through the abundance of talented youngsters - supporters!!! they don't know the meaning of the word

by munkian Mon 14 Apr 2014, 9:48 am

Risca Rev wrote:I don't bother with Dragged Up any more. There's too many people who go overboard on the criticism, that I feel obliged to go over the top with praise for a bit of balance.

Lyn Jones is as good a coach as we could hope to attract. We wouldn't have signed players like Byrne for a start. Also, it's not his squad yet. I think he's right that we did catch teams out at first. We are getting quality in for next season who will make a huge difference to us. For a start, people like Brew and Byrne will give us a bit more spark in our backs, the two lock signings should give us a harder edge and I think once a few of the players who have known they are off have left, it'll make things a bit better.

I'm not wasting a day down filling Roger's pockets for them next week though.

Hey, If I'm making it over to Cardiff they day after a Wedding to see us get mauled then you can too ! Wink

by XR Mon 14 Apr 2014, 11:28 am

bedfordwelsh wrote:It promised so much early on but its back to the same old order of us near bottom and looking like being 4th out of the Regions.

Here's hoping thumbsup

by munkian Mon 14 Apr 2014, 11:32 am

gcBlues wrote:
bedfordwelsh wrote:It promised so much early on but its back to the same old order of us near bottom and looking like being 4th out of the Regions.

Here's hoping

With the players the Blues have its a bit sad you are relying on the Dragons to give you some dignity.

Being 3rd region doesn't matter now anyway in regards to the 'Heino' does it ?

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