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 bedfordwelsh Mon 14 Apr 2014, 6:16 pm

munkian wrote:
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 ?

No it doesn't and I have always said that the HC was out of our league anyway but braggibg rights and finishing positions between the teams from relevant countries and always a bit of little side battle as well.

by dragon4life Tue 15 Apr 2014, 10:25 am

We've got rid of Chapparo

by munkian Tue 15 Apr 2014, 10:58 am

dragon4life wrote:We've got rid of Chapparo

For the best I reckon, clearing out some dead wood

by dragon4life Tue 15 Apr 2014, 11:28 am

Never lived up tp expectations

by Guest Tue 15 Apr 2014, 4:27 pm

It was inevitable he would go after that red especially.

by VinceWLB Tue 15 Apr 2014, 9:12 pm

There was a reason he was 4th or 5th choice at Stade Français, just because he is Argentinian doesn't mean he can scrummage, a naive signing in the first place.

by Stone Motif Tue 15 Apr 2014, 11:59 pm

VinceWLB wrote:There was a reason he was 4th or 5th choice at Stade Français, just because he is Argentinian doesn't mean he can scrummage, a naive signing in the first place.

Not when Dan Way is your first choice tight head

by munkian Wed 16 Apr 2014, 8:45 am

Stone Motif wrote:
VinceWLB wrote:There was a reason he was 4th or 5th choice at Stade Français, just because he is Argentinian doesn't mean he can scrummage, a naive signing in the first place.

Not when Dan Way is your first choice tight head

Both are valid points unfortunately Rolling Eyes

by Guest Wed 16 Apr 2014, 12:45 pm

Never mind, it'll be a fun day down the stadium on Sunday. I've already given my ticket away. Find the whole idea a bit of a farce to be honest, particularly giving away the bearpit advantage v a team like Ospreys.

Be interesting to see if we have some sort of shake up for this weekend. We do generally raise our game for these derbies, but it's going to take something special for them not to get a BP.

by dragon4life Wed 16 Apr 2014, 1:03 pm

Possible starting team next season:
1 Stankovich
2 Thomas
3 A.jones
4 Landman
5 Hill
6 Coombs
7 Cudd
8 Falateau
9 Rees
10 Tovey
11 Brewwww
12 Dixon
13 Wardle/Leach
14 Prydie
15 Byrne
Subs
16 Dee
17 Price
18 Young
19 Screech
20 L Evans
21 Evans
22 Jones
23 Amos

by munkian Wed 16 Apr 2014, 1:53 pm

With Amos getting more starts as the season goes on hopefully

by bedfordwelsh Wed 16 Apr 2014, 4:37 pm

Rev,

Having been lucky enough to go to Twickenham for the London openers its a cracking day, admittedly I have gone there as a neutral so not bothered about home advantage etc but I do think if we continue this with the Regions it would be great if we could get similar atmosphere it really is cracking.

I have said in the past its a pity we couldn't do it on the nearest Saturday to St Davids Day but the problem with that is all the big names would be tied up with Wales duties so wouldn't be involved.

by munkian Wed 16 Apr 2014, 4:42 pm

Do they search bags ? I don't fancy drinking the over priced rubbish they serve at the Millenium Wink

by Guest Wed 16 Apr 2014, 6:34 pm

I think they'll search bags aye.

Anybody see Dan Evans' hastily deleted tweet about being amongst the outcasts? I can't say I blame Lyn really, plus he's been making mistakes hasn't he?

by dragon999 Wed 16 Apr 2014, 8:49 pm

Lyn got Dan Evans spot on, one good display 3 crap ones - he has been beyond crap in recent games & will be lucky to get on the O's bench next season

by XR Thu 17 Apr 2014, 8:26 am

munkian wrote:
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 ?

If we didn't have a terrible DOR in charge this season probably might have been a little better.

As for the european cup, i'm happy for the blues to have a season in the lower tier cup. We're not ready for the big teams just yet.

by munkian Thu 17 Apr 2014, 8:50 am

dragon999 wrote:Lyn got Dan Evans spot on, one good display 3 crap ones - he has been beyond crap in recent games & will be lucky to get on the O's bench next season

Ospreys really are our rejects team aren't they ? Wink

by dragon4life Thu 17 Apr 2014, 10:42 am

Lewis Robling gone to Jersey

by munkian Thu 17 Apr 2014, 10:50 am

dragon4life wrote:Lewis Robling gone to Jersey

Didn't they have another one of our players a season or two ago ?

by dragon4life Thu 17 Apr 2014, 11:00 am

Tom Brown last season munkian

by munkian Thu 17 Apr 2014, 11:03 am

Thats the one

by Guest Thu 17 Apr 2014, 11:43 am

Robling isn't really a loss either. Quite fragile really.

Wonder if he is going primarily as a ten

by Guest Fri 18 Apr 2014, 12:33 pm

Interesting to see Burton at ten on Sunday.

by dragon4life Fri 18 Apr 2014, 2:22 pm

Tovey hasn't been playing well and good to see Dan Evans finally dropped

by Guest Fri 18 Apr 2014, 6:01 pm

I'd maybe have thought Steff would play. I wouldn't play Evans again, especially after his deleted tweet. Quite petulant really, especially if he was at fault for two tries last week.

Crazy to think some people thought it was silly to let Dan Evans go for Byrne. There's no comparison really.

by dragon4life Fri 18 Apr 2014, 6:05 pm

What was his tweet rev? And Steff seems to have a better kicking game this year and gets the backline moving but his defence is terrible. Dan Evans cost us 2 tries against trevisio all he really has is a good counter attack and an ability to find gaps but is unreliable under high ball and when hes off form he is terrible.

by Guest Fri 18 Apr 2014, 8:32 pm

It wasn't bad, just mentioned about being an outcast. He obviously thought better of it after though, as he deleted it not long after

by dragon4life Fri 18 Apr 2014, 10:29 pm

Rev also any news on signings is there more to come?

by Guest Fri 18 Apr 2014, 11:03 pm

All seems a bit quiet at the moment. Sure there are a few things in the pipeline

by munkian Sat 19 Apr 2014, 8:40 am

We've made 7 signings to be fair. We need to sort out ground facilities, Bisley side is a world apart to the Hazel

by GavinDragon Sat 19 Apr 2014, 2:48 pm

rumours on dragged up is ash smith will be on his way,

be sad to see him go a stalwart of the region over the last 6-7 seasons

by dragon4life Sat 19 Apr 2014, 3:11 pm

Hope not any idea on how long his contract is?

by bedfordwelsh Sat 19 Apr 2014, 3:54 pm

Even if Tovey has been playing bad (not my opinion) then he's still a far better option than Burton, I just can't understand that selection at all.

by dragon4life Sat 19 Apr 2014, 6:35 pm

I would pick steff or even Robling over Burton........ this has to be his final chance

by Guest Sun 20 Apr 2014, 12:42 am

Tovey isn't playing bad, it's a hard position to play when players around you are misfiring too. It's ironic that we have been getting relative parity with Bell, yet we haven't had the performance off the backs that we probably should've. I don't rate burton either and would rather see one of our own get a run over him.

by dragon4life Sun 20 Apr 2014, 9:15 am

Hope he has a good game today with no aimless kicking

by dragon4life Sun 20 Apr 2014, 7:47 pm

Great defensive performance, didn't have much possesion either. If only we had good set piece and be able to defend it. Back row were great as were back three

by dragon4life Sun 20 Apr 2014, 7:48 pm

If it was at Dave we would have won

by Guest Sun 20 Apr 2014, 9:24 pm

dragon4life wrote:If it was at Dave we would have won

I was thinking that. When we went 7-0 up, the place would've been rocking and could've lifted the players. I wonder if the board regret agreeing to this. I don't see the perks really, as I don't think the money we gain makes too much of a difference to what we'd get off a full house at Dave.

by dragon4life Mon 21 Apr 2014, 10:10 am

If we play like that at the parc y we might win

by munkian Mon 21 Apr 2014, 11:47 am

Was great day out and converted a few mates into Dragons fans but yeah, I reckon we would've have pinched it if it was an actual 'home game'

A few annoying points though, the Blues 'fans' bleating Kerdifff, kerdiff ! all game - pretty sure you at least supposed to pretend to be a region !

Also, the Ospreys fans didn't make any noise until they got their try !

by bedfordwelsh Mon 21 Apr 2014, 12:49 pm

I enjoyed it very much and have long said I think its a good idea, a lot of Scarlets fans seemed to leave after their game had finished which I can't understand though.

by Guest Mon 21 Apr 2014, 1:23 pm

It isn't a good idea and was totally botched too. No marketing, put on a day when travel was a nightmare and a family day and to top it all off it totally diluted our atmosphere. I honestly don't see how we benefitted from it, if you consider that a spilt gate with Cardiff is all we get. I think we would potentially gained more by having 8500 people at Rodney drinking. Certainly would've been a rowdy Parade yesterday.

by bedfordwelsh Mon 21 Apr 2014, 1:43 pm

Ok I will re-phrase that I think it is a good idea if its hadnled correctly and marketed etc which I agree it was tehn again the the Regions and WRUs track record its hardly surprising.

That said I still enjoyed it.

by GavinDragon Mon 21 Apr 2014, 7:31 pm

the wru should subsidise the regions to the equivalent of a full house split four ways, then they would put more effort/thought into filling the stadium

by Guest Mon 21 Apr 2014, 10:11 pm

The only way to make it fair is either lose a home game each (ie two judgement days), or follow super league and have an extra game like they do for magic weekend. Obviously Cardiff are fine, as they can still change in their changing rooms (as they did), but I'm never going to see the benefit for the dragons. As nice as it is for our players to play on the MS, I'm sure they would prefer playing in front of a rowdy Hazell terrace.

by The Saint Tue 22 Apr 2014, 2:21 am

It is what it is, someone else will be losing out on home advantage next year too.

by XR Tue 22 Apr 2014, 8:37 am

Shame for the dregs and they had a chance when it was 7-0, also a shame Tovey got injured because Kris Burton really is pathetic. He's like a poor man's Dan Parks...i just don't see what he offers that Tovey doesn't.

Actually wanted the dregs to win this game, mainly because of the huge whale of an ospreys fan sat in front of me. She had an Osprey shirt on which was the size of a small childs duvet cover and throughout the blues/scarlets game was cheering the scarlets, shocker. Plus she had little trotter hands...think she had a sash that said 'Miss Swansea 2013' but i didn't have my glasses.

Like has been said, if that was at Dave you probably would have won that game especially after Rees went over. You would have got Dan Biggar in a flap and then they would have just bottled it.

by Breadvan Tue 22 Apr 2014, 1:21 pm

Actually wanted the dregs to win this game, mainly because of the huge whale of an ospreys fan sat in front of me. She had an Osprey shirt on which was the size of a small childs duvet cover and throughout the blues/scarlets game was cheering the scarlets, shocker. Plus she had little trotter hands...think she had a sash that said 'Miss Swansea 2013' but i didn't have my glasses.

I think she was at coney beach yesterday. Talk about a Jeremy Kyle holding pen. Jeez.
Anyhoo, fact is that if we'd have a bit more composure in attack, the Os could've been 21-0 up at half time. Glad the second half came to life tho, although the majority of the crowd were hammered by then.

by munkian Tue 22 Apr 2014, 1:36 pm

Ospreys kept kicking for the corner too, desperate for bonus points

by Sponsored content