Glasgow Warriors v Newport Gwent Dragons 1935 hrs 22 Nov 2013 Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow

First topic message reminder :

Weary of the depression that international rugby afflicts on me I thought I would beat GC to it and start this.

Warriors :


15 Hogg
14 Barry
13 DTH
12 Russell
11 Niko
10 Wight
09 Henners

1 Shrek
2 Hall
3 Kalman
4 Ryder
5 Kellock
6 Harley
7 Fozzy
8 Vernon

16 Hunter
17 Brown
18 Angela
19 Big Naka
20 Bluto
21 Jedi
22 Steele
23 [tbc]

Could any Dragons fans give us some background on the younger members of your squad? Unbelievably (since they call themselves 'journalists'), ScrumV don't talk about the Dragons too often!

Risca Rev wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Dragons: Dan Evans; Will Harries, Pat Leach, Ross Wardle, Matthew Pewtner; Jason Tovey, Richie Rees; Owen Evans, Sam Parry, Francisco Chaparro, Cory Hill, Rob Sidoli (c), Lewis Evans, Nic Cudd, Netani Talei.

Replacements: Elliot Dee, Aaron Coundley, Dan Way, Matthew Screech, Ieuan Jones, Wayne Evans, Steffan Jones, Ashley Smith.

That Dragons team has a lot of positives for me. Delighted to see Chaparro start and Gus not in the 23. Delighted to see Talei at 8. Really pleased to see Steff backing up Mason.

Not so pleased to see referee Fitzgibbon and hope he isn't as keen to penalise us as he was v Leinster. Glasgae don't need any help to beat us, thanks Peter

Rev, dinnae fech yersel laddie, the Gibbon is no friend to the Weege either

IanBru wrote:Could any Dragons fans give us some background on the younger members of your squad? Unbelievably (since they call themselves 'journalists'), ScrumV don't talk about the Dragons too often!

Dragons: Dan Evans; Will Harries, Pat Leach, Ross Wardle, Matthew Pewtner; Jason Tovey, Richie Rees; Owen Evans, Sam Parry, Francisco Chaparro, Cory Hill, Rob Sidoli (c), Lewis Evans, Nic Cudd, Netani Talei.

Replacements: Elliot Dee, Aaron Coundley, Dan Way, Matthew Screech, Ieuan Jones, Wayne Evans, Steffan Jones, Ashley Smith


Anyone in particular ?

I'd say Tovey and Rees are our 1st choice halfbacks so you know what you are getting there.

Our front row is never really much to shout about but Chaparro seems a solid signing and is good in the loose.

Hill is a rather young lock who played for Wales U20s - never seen him play for us to be honest as we've just picked him up - his staring game was a win against the Wasps last week - Sidoli is as old as God but experienced

Lewis and Cudd are both hard grafters, Cudd is strong at the breakdown and I'm sure you've seen Talei play for Embra last season  

The bench isn't amazing but Wayne Evans is a very able young 9 and Steffan seems to be finding some form again after a spell in the lower leagues. Ashley Smith is our old Captain and good in defense - recently back from injury I think

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Dragons: Dan Evans; Will Harries, Pat Leach, Ross Wardle, Matthew Pewtner; Jason Tovey, Richie Rees; Owen Evans, Sam Parry, Francisco Chaparro, Cory Hill, Rob Sidoli (c), Lewis Evans, Nic Cudd, Netani Talei.

Replacements: Elliot Dee, Aaron Coundley, Dan Way, Matthew Screech, Ieuan Jones, Wayne Evans, Steffan Jones, Ashley Smith.

That Dragons team has a lot of positives for me. Delighted to see Chaparro start and Gus not in the 23. Delighted to see Talei at 8. Really pleased to see Steff backing up Mason.

Not so pleased to see referee Fitzgibbon and hope he isn't as keen to penalise us as he was v Leinster. Glasgae don't need any help to beat us, thanks Peter

Rev, dinnae fech yersel laddie, the Gibbon is no friend to the Weege either

The Gibbon is equally inconsistent and incoherent for all teams.
At least it's not Clownshoes Clancy, the man who hates freedom, Glasgow and the advantage rule in equal measure.

I went to the Dragons v Leinster game with my Irish Mrs and she didn't believe Gibbon was Irish.

Won me a fiver and a supporters ball anyway  

In a side note, anyone seen that the Fijians are making a complaint about ref Leighton Hodges' conduct during Italy-Fiji match?

I haven't seen that match (though Fiji were down to 11 by the end, apparently), but I have to say that Hodges is an absolute menace, a danger to players.

He ref'd the Glasgow-Saints match last year, and with a Saints player being treated on the pitch for a potentially serious neck injury, he calmly let play creep closer and closer, only stopping when a line out was being formed right on top of the player.

He was out of his league, and too arrogant to admit it. Hope he gets canned by the IRB.

I thought the academy boy Benjamin was playing seven for us, according to the Argus?

As, ah well it'll possibly a frustrating game then (result for Glasgow aside).

munkian wrote:I went to the Dragons v Leinster game with my Irish Mrs and she didn't believe Gibbon was Irish.

Won me a fiver and a supporters ball anyway  

What? Will you look at the head on him:

 
The boy practically has a pig under his arm.
 
Or something less racist.

I got that team from the Beeb, Rev, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's wrong.

I was never a fan of Leighton Hodges, but the last few matches I saw him referee I thought he was much better, especially with playing advantage. Didn't seen the Fiji game, though.

munkian wrote:

IanBru wrote:Could any Dragons fans give us some background on the younger members of your squad? Unbelievably (since they call themselves 'journalists'), ScrumV don't talk about the Dragons too often!

Dragons: Dan Evans; Will Harries, Pat Leach, Ross Wardle, Matthew Pewtner; Jason Tovey, Richie Rees; Owen Evans, Sam Parry, Francisco Chaparro, Cory Hill, Rob Sidoli (c), Lewis Evans, Nic Cudd, Netani Talei.

Replacements: Elliot Dee, Aaron Coundley, Dan Way, Matthew Screech, Ieuan Jones, Wayne Evans, Steffan Jones, Ashley Smith


Anyone in particular ?

I'd say Tovey and Rees are our 1st choice halfbacks so you know what you are getting there.

Our front row is never really much to shout about but Chaparro seems a solid signing and is good in the loose.

Hill is a rather young lock who played for Wales U20s - never seen him play for us to be honest as we've just picked him up - his staring game was a win against the Wasps last week - Sidoli is as old as God but experienced

Lewis and Cudd are both hard grafters, Cudd is strong at the breakdown and I'm sure you've seen Talei play for Embra last season  

The bench isn't amazing but Wayne Evans is a very able young 9 and Steffan seems to be finding some form again after a spell in the lower leagues. Ashley Smith is our old Captain and good in defense - recently back from injury I think

Cheers Munkian, that's exactly what I was looking for!

This will sound so condescending, but I really felt for Dragons last year . They're undoubtedly my favorite Welsh region, and Dan Evans is an absolute class player.

Appreciated, felt for em too  

I do like Dan Evans, would be nice if we could Brrreeeewww back to play with him

Dan is class. Can't believe he's only 24, as he seems to have been around a while.

The Argus has Cudd starting too. I'm sure I read about Benjamin on twitter as a link to the Argus website. Weird.

https://twitter.com/gwentnews/status/403510481593196544

There it was. Article has been deleted now though.

Great to see Hoogy back. DTH at centre - with Finn Russell at 12 too . Interesting combo - DTH has played there for Canada but never Warriors. And now he wants to put out fires !!!!

C'mon The Warriors you owe us a good performance  

Beautiful Winter's day here in Glasgow. Clear blue skies but as cold as hell. Shaping up for a good match - conditions perfect

Properly Baltic here, the sort of weather where you zip up your Diadora trackie top for the short walk from
Central station to the Blue Lagoon chipshop.

Sorry FES, let me translate.

Aye, good man, my old friend McKenzie Strathairn-Douglas had to button his tweed jacket and fasten his red pantaloons for the short taxi trip from Waverley to Clarinda'a Tea Room.

Ian, thanks to you I'm sitting here in Sunny Essex getting all nostalgic for a pie supper from the Blue Lagoon. Mind you I'm now going hard-core and remembering drinking in the Horseshoe and nipping round to the Chia Dragon.
FES don't worry I once drank in the Horseshoe with Craig Raine who was in the running to be Poet Laureate at the time so it wasn't too irredeemably soap-dodgerish.

Jimbo,

WT Flying F are you admitting to an MFL. Very poor form old boy !  

Schiz, it's been a very long week. Mrs Pip is on the phone to her mother to find out if we have, repeat have, to make the great trek north for Chrimbo. I have agreed we will migrate only if I can go to the ritual two part slaughter of the effeminates. If that pans out you are my ticket contact for Scotstoun, old boy. I'll drive to Brotheltown and pick you up on the way if it pans out.
P.s. Warriors 35- Dragqueens 3

Busy night for for the mad Fijian by the sounds of things. Scored a try & given one away...
Currently 13-5 down  

Yellow card for the Dregs in the 1st minute.

20-8 to the dragons.
Squeaky bum time

What happened there then? That was not in the script!

Great win for the Dragons, actually feels like a win unlike the shambles that was the Wales game.

Lost 23-8. Despite the dragons being down to 13 men at one point. Didn't see / hear it but sounds dreadful. What a massive setback  

ex-Cardiff Tovey gets a full house and the Dregs win.
Bugger and blast.
http://www.espn.co.uk/rabodirect-pro12-2013-14/rugby/match/191401.html

Just heard/read the score... well done Dragons

Impressive win Dragons...

Wish Lyn Jones had come to the Blues. :/

They're having a very good early season under Lyn compared to seasons past. In with a shout for the play-offs if they can keep it up.

wales606 wrote:Impressive win Dragons...

Wish Lyn Jones had come to the Blues. :/

Impressive? Dunno, didn't see it.
And Lyn Jones did say on ScrumV that CCS was the place to be.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

wales606 wrote:Impressive win Dragons...

Wish Lyn Jones had come to the Blues. :/

Impressive? Dunno, didn't see it.
And Lyn Jones did say on ScrumV that CCS was the place to be.

I think he was talking about SCS, the sofa place in Cardiff Gate.

Griff wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

wales606 wrote:Impressive win Dragons...

Wish Lyn Jones had come to the Blues. :/

Impressive? Dunno, didn't see it.
And Lyn Jones did say on ScrumV that CCS was the place to be.

I think he was talking about SCS, the sofa place in Cardiff Gate.

 

Dragons took their chances well but my god were Glasgow awful. Both Hogg and Nico sold the jerseys . Hogg played the worst I have ever seen him play. Kicked aimlessly giving away good possession when he should have passed. Nico dropped the ball a yard out from his own line then managed to throw it back over the line for the dragons to dot down. Truly awful.
Glasgow constantly made poor decisions , spilled the ball or gave away silly penalties every time they put pressure on the Dragons line.
Bennett had been released by Scotland but was on the bench leaving Dth at o/s. When Bennett came on nice went to scrum half ,DTH back on the wing and it started to look promising. Should've started that way and had Strauss and the new Pacific Islander on from the start.
Great win for the Dragons though they were in control and looked dangerous when given the space to play. The Glasgow coaches should and hopefully will be spitting nails tonight

Wow great win. How bad were the tackles by Leach (first yellow) and Talei (third) though?

Glad the blue and black shirt has broken its defeated run though.

Not much reaction to Tovey's full house yet. Puff the magic Dragon fans must be still stuck in Cardiff central after spending all their cash watching wales, in Cardiff, which is good.

Thought the first could have been a straight red tbh. Talei took a v cheap shot on Hogg after he had moved the ball was only a yellow IMO though. Tovey ran the game well for Dragons but Glasgow were the architects of their own downfall. They didn't start playing with any conviction until the game was lost tbh. Even then they took the wrong option or made so silly mistake just as they had manoeuvred themselves into a scoring position.

I did wonder when it said spear tackle for Pat Leach.

Cardiff Dave wrote:Not much reaction to Tovey's full house yet. Puff the magic Dragon fans must be still stuck in Cardiff central after spending all their cash watching wales, in Cardiff, which is good.

Not likely.

Well played Dragons.  

Think the ref must took pity on him because it was in the first minute of the game.There was no TMO so it was a split decision .It was only the second tackle of the game but it was a horror. Got the players legs up to about shoulder height before dropping him on his shoulder / head.

Risca Rev wrote:Wow great win. How bad were the tackles by Leach (first yellow) and Talei (third) though?

Glad the blue and black shirt has broken its defeated run though.

I'm with you there. Come on the Blue and Blacks.

Yes Hogg and Matawalu were fecking rubbish. What was that penalty attempt when 12 down with 12 mins to go all about? Bloody disgraceful performance. Dragons are a bunch of dirty besterds but they more than deserved their win.

Jason Tovey take a bow son!

Should of played for Wales before he left n now looking the part again ...

Great vision, can break, exceptional kicking game, big game temperament... Good hands... Defence is weak but has improved. Classy player who's not scared to try things.

Heuer27 wrote:Think the ref must took pity on him because it was in the first minute of the game.There was no TMO so it was a split decision .It was only the second tackle  of the game but it was a horror. Got the players legs up to about shoulder height before dropping him on his shoulder / head.

He hasn't played for a few weeks, so maybe his timing was off? He's our defensive leader normally, so probably wanted to set the tone and it went wrong. He's not a dirty player normally.

I'm just so impressed they showed some character on the road. Losing a player and a try that early would have made it a long evening last season. If we had turned a few results around like Leinster and particularly Edinburgh we could be even more impressive.

I'm still recovering. Genuinely, I feel like I've taken a massive kick to the grapes by a masked man, who then ran off cackling into the frosty Glasgow night.

Firstly, hats off to the Dragons. Their defence was excellent (except for the first try, which was made from a luscious DTH offload), they were strong at the breakdown (though decidedly second-best in the scrum), they were inventive, they spotted Glasgow's weaknesses and exploited them over and over. They were bloody hungry, and pushed constantly for the full 80. Tovey was mesmeric, his kicking was brilliant, and he ran the line with aplomb. I'll never feel like I've been cheated when Glasgow are beaten by a side who play with that much heart.

I do have to say something about their play. They were really very dirty throughout. I'm not going to say this is a characteristic of the team, since I haven't seen enough of them, but they were genuinely quite nasty tonight. The first yellow should have been a red. Harley carried into contact and was tipped over completely before being dropped on his head. No momentum to explain his being lifted, he's a big guy, clear intent, so a definite red for me. The Oz center's tip against Ireland was a bowl of icecream compared to this.

Still, they deserved to win, so many congrats to the Dragons fans. Griff, Munk, Taff, well done chaps.

Glasgow... Honestly, where do I start? Everything bar the scrum was terrible. Genuinely everything went wrong. No passes went to hand, the pick and drive was limp, the fringe defence was mediocre, the line out was rickety, kicking from hand was absolutely terrifying, the kick-chase was feckless, Wight was incompetent, Niko was suicidal, Hogg was selfish and wasteful, DTH was constantly being caught out of position in defence, Russell was flustered but inventive, Barry's shoes made more of an impression than he did, Al was tired, Fusaro was anonymous, Vernon was weak and didn't carry, Strauss cheated at Movember (a real sore spot for me), Pyrgos kicked constantly and poorly, and no one seemed to notice that when you don't hold on to the ball, often it ends up in the hand of the opposition.

It was bloody cold, and this team's style is best suited to March-May, but really this was a terrible performance from Glasgow.

I'm off to Murrayfield to be cheered up by Scotland. I genuinely never thought I'd say that.

Great report Jimbo. Well done to the Dragons - I had to read the scoreline three times this morning when I go up. To finish 15 points ahead of another team when you've spent half an hour with less than a full complement of players has got to go down as a stuffing.

What possible reason is Toonie going to come up with for this? We had a large chunk of wha has to be considered a firstXV out there. No excuses for that sort of old scrote.

Thanks Glasgow fans. A very rare win away from us. That's more like it, and I hope we're continuing on the upward trajectory that the new coaching team seems to be bringing, rather than it being a fluke. Not nice to hear that we seemed dirty. Hopefully a one off. Haven't really seen us be dirty before. We're usually not streetwise enough and get physically dominated out of the game. Didn't see it so can't comment unfortunately.

Have to say though that it wasn't too long ago that a win against Glasgow away would have been the norm rather than the exception! We used to beat the Scottish teams regularly, but since then we've gone in a downwards spiral and they've gone upwards (especially Glasgow). However, the more competitive we can be with all teams, the better it is for the league.

Not surprised to hear our scrum struggled. I really don't understand it. No matter what the coaching team, or the players, over the years we never seem to be able to produce a decent, competitive, or just plain stable, scrum. Thinking of all the front rowers we've had, no one has been able to deliver the goods. Really odd. Our scrummaging machine down at RP must be broken!

Well after the shambles at the MS what a great tonic this result is, if I am honest I didn't expect much from this game a losing BP at most but excellent result.

Griff, I agree about our scrum and again I am sure with his Russian connections that Kingsley could get us a few gnarly dog type props who love nothing other than scrum, scrum and then scrum again.

By all acounts Tovey was on top form (take note Mr G) would love to see him in the set up now.

Well done Dragons cheered up a very depressed old (well my kids think I am) Welsh man with this result.