Dragons vs Zebre

by GavinDragon Wed 09 Sep 2015, 7:22 am

On a stag do so won't be able to make the game but will put up starting xv's when they are announced.

I hope we bounce back and start well. A 5 pointer is a must.

Dragons:

T Prydie, A Hewitt, T Morgan, A Warren, N Scott, J Tovey, S Pretorius, B Stankovich, R Thomas (captain), B Harris, C Hill, R Landman, L Evans, N Cudd, E Jackson.

Replacements:

H Gustafson, P Price, S Knight, J Thomas, J Benjamin, C Davies, D Jones, C Meyer

by Guest Wed 09 Sep 2015, 11:31 am

First game of the season for me. Can't wait. Without getting carried away by a score margin, five points is a must. Wonder how many tries Sarel will score? I have a sneaky suspicion that Lyn will change the halfbacks after praising them last week though.

by Cardiff Dave Wed 09 Sep 2015, 7:47 pm

5 points for the Gwenters.

by Stone Motif Wed 09 Sep 2015, 8:05 pm

We aren't great when in possession of the old favourites tag. Worried we might think we have to rack up a score instead of getting the job done.

by **George Carlin** Thu 10 Sep 2015, 9:21 am

If this current Dragons side don't tear their opposition a disasterously large new one, they should really be playing another sport. I am guessing at least 6 scores for the men of Gwent. Is Rynard the Fearsome fully fit again?

by GavinDragon Thu 10 Sep 2015, 11:32 am

Cardiff Dave wrote:5 points for the Gwenters.

would it be Gwenters? or Gwentonians?

by GavinDragon Thu 10 Sep 2015, 11:33 am

George Carlin wrote:If this current Dragons side don't tear their opposition a disasterously large new one, they should really be playing another sport. I am guessing at least 6 scores for the men of Gwent. Is Rynard the Fearsome fully fit again?

I believe so

by Guest Thu 10 Sep 2015, 11:43 am

Yes he's fine.

by Guest Thu 10 Sep 2015, 12:27 pm

The 15 Lyn has picked is actually exactly what I was hoping he would. Looking forward to this. Delighted to see Ashton starting.

Prydie, Hewitt, Morgan, Warren, Scott, Tovey, Pretorious, Boris, TRT, Brok, Hill, Landman, Evans, Cudd, Jackson

Gus, Price, Knight, Thomas, Benjamin, Davies, Dorian, Meyer

by GavinDragon Thu 10 Sep 2015, 12:45 pm

My sentiments exactly.

by GavinDragon Thu 10 Sep 2015, 12:45 pm

Although you do wonder what is up with Brew - a falling out with Lyn perhaps?

by munkian Thu 10 Sep 2015, 12:49 pm

GavinDragon wrote:Although you do wonder what is up with Brew - a falling out with Lyn perhaps?

But he's such a like able chap ! Shocked

by Stone Motif Thu 10 Sep 2015, 3:45 pm

GavinDragon wrote:
Cardiff Dave wrote:5 points for the Gwenters.

would it be Gwenters? or Gwentonians?

Gwent Boys surely

by Guest Thu 10 Sep 2015, 9:34 pm

So we are apparently wearing our change strip tomorrow due to this changing the home kit to match the replica. What a farce Gilbert are.

Brewy starting for Newport up Ebbw on Sat.

by GavinDragon Thu 10 Sep 2015, 10:38 pm

Risca Rev wrote:So we are apparently wearing our change strip tomorrow due to this changing the home kit to match the replica. What a farce Gilbert are.

Brewy starting for Newport up Ebbw on Sat.

mistake, the kit was fine as it was. Just needed to match the supporters replica to it

by Guest Thu 10 Sep 2015, 10:51 pm

I wholeheartedly agree. I'm not buying any shirt now, I doubt. Farce. Fancy we won't be having Gilbert next season though. Can only hope anyway.

by GavinDragon Thu 10 Sep 2015, 11:14 pm

I have bought the away strip. Like the monmouthshire blue funnily enough

by Guest Thu 10 Sep 2015, 11:30 pm

Funnily enough, the replica blue one is better than the player's one. I might get that when it's cheaper.

by GavinDragon Thu 10 Sep 2015, 11:41 pm

I know. Bloody crazy

by Luckless Pedestrian Fri 11 Sep 2015, 5:07 am

GavinDragon wrote:
Risca Rev wrote:So we are apparently wearing our change strip tomorrow due to this changing the home kit to match the replica. What a farce Gilbert are.

Brewy starting for Newport up Ebbw on Sat.

mistake, the kit was fine as it was. Just needed to match the supporters replica to it

What?! So now the players are going to wear the horrible replica one? As well as being the wrong change to make, as you say, now all the pre-season publicity / promotional photos will have the players in a shirt they won't actually be playing in. What a shambles!

by Chunky Norwich Fri 11 Sep 2015, 6:08 pm

Zebre live on Welsh tv twice in 5 days

#LoveThisLeague

by Guest Fri 11 Sep 2015, 8:22 pm

We'll be lucky to score 2 tries here, let alone 6. It's like a pre season game.

by Guest Fri 11 Sep 2015, 8:34 pm

Ed Jackson's looked good again. Faletau has some competition (for once) when he gets back.

Dragons not playing well at all. Some good initial work early in the phases but then it goes to rat sh*t after a while. Every time.

Interesting to here that Zebre didn't bother going home after the Blues game last week, opting to stay and train locally, including at schools, and wait for the game in Newport. They seem to be playing a lot better than last week, but the opposition is not as good either (as painful as that is to say).

by Stone Motif Fri 11 Sep 2015, 8:47 pm

Griff wrote:Ed Jackson's looked good again. Faletau has some competition (for once) when he gets back.

Dragons not playing well at all. Some good initial work early in the phases but then it goes to rat sh*t after a while. Every time.

Interesting to here that Zebre didn't bother going home after the Blues game last week, opting to stay and train locally, including at schools, and wait for the game in Newport. They seem to be playing a lot better than last week, but the opposition is not as good either (as painful as that is to say).

Possibly the worst game of pro rugby I've ever watched

by Guest Fri 11 Sep 2015, 8:53 pm

Stone Motif wrote:
Griff wrote:Ed Jackson's looked good again. Faletau has some competition (for once) when he gets back.

Dragons not playing well at all. Some good initial work early in the phases but then it goes to rat sh*t after a while. Every time.

Interesting to here that Zebre didn't bother going home after the Blues game last week, opting to stay and train locally, including at schools, and wait for the game in Newport. They seem to be playing a lot better than last week, but the opposition is not as good either (as painful as that is to say).

Possibly the worst game of pro rugby I've ever watched

I agree. 0 points scored by anyone in the second half. Zero, nil, nought, zilch. Crappo.

by Guest Fri 11 Sep 2015, 10:34 pm

Ref didn't help, but why did we think we had miracle offloads in our locker so often? Forced them way too much.

by Stone Motif Fri 11 Sep 2015, 11:02 pm

Like I said, silly sods tried to rack up points before game was won.

by Luckless Pedestrian Sat 12 Sep 2015, 5:55 am

I thought this kicked off at 7.35, so I turned up late and missed the first 15 minutes or so. It was only 3 - 0, so I hadn't missed much. If I'd turned up at full time, I wouldn't have missed much.

The only positive thing you can say is that the Dragons won; but if you can't get a try bonus point at home against Zebre, when can you get one?

by Chunky Norwich Sat 12 Sep 2015, 9:11 am

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:I thought this kicked off at 7.35

That's what you get with this league. All over the place. Every game this weekend kicks ff at a different time.

19:05
19:35
15:00
17:10
17:15
14:30

by mikey_dragon Sat 12 Sep 2015, 2:35 pm

From what I saw Cory Hill wasn't good. Not singling out just him, as there were a few who weren't good. But I've been thinking lately about what our best second row pair might be. I don't think Hill is the best lock to partner Landman.

by Cardiff Dave Sat 12 Sep 2015, 5:47 pm

The pitch looked nice though and very green. Real too. Shame it was covered in dogsh1te for 80 mins, but there we are.

by Guest Sat 12 Sep 2015, 9:02 pm

Cardiff Dave wrote:The pitch looked nice though and very green. Real too. Shame it was covered in dogsh1te for 80 mins, but there we are.

Ooooh, check him out. One big win and he's bathing in gravy!

by Cardiff Dave Sat 12 Sep 2015, 9:07 pm

Griff wrote:
Cardiff Dave wrote:The pitch looked nice though and very green. Real too. Shame it was covered in dogsh1te for 80 mins, but there we are.

Ooooh, check him out. One big win and he's bathing in gravy!

Don't encourage me FFS.

by VinceWLB Sun 13 Sep 2015, 11:06 am

Missed the game, who dominated the scrum? I was VERY impressed by this Dragons front 5 last season and Zebre have signed a lot of new players including 3 argie props as well as Pietro Ceccarelli who is highly thought off down there so was interested to hear how it went.

by Guest Sun 13 Sep 2015, 11:47 am

It was a bit of a mess, due to the referee. I didn't think Dragons did too bad with Boris and Brok on, but when Shaun Knight and Phil Price came on it was a different matter.

by **George Carlin** Sun 13 Sep 2015, 11:53 am

Cardiff Dave wrote:
Griff wrote:
Cardiff Dave wrote:The pitch looked nice though and very green. Real too. Shame it was covered in dogsh1te for 80 mins, but there we are.

Ooooh, check him out. One big win and he's bathing in gravy!

Don't encourage me FFS.

by VinceWLB Sun 13 Sep 2015, 12:02 pm

Risca Rev wrote:It was a bit of a mess, due to the referee. I didn't think Dragons did too bad with Boris and Brok on, but when Shaun Knight and Phil Price came on it was a different matter.

Cheers Risca. Both Italians teams will be hard to dominate at scrum time this season, Treviso dominated both Munster and Edinburgh and have recruited well too.

by GavinDragon Tue 15 Sep 2015, 6:13 am

watched it on Iplayer last night and here are my thoughts.

For the first 45 minutes we played fairly well. Created 4 try scoring opportunities just couldnt finish them off because we were trying miracle ball offloads or just failed to keep hold of the ball in contact.

Tovey is nearing his best again. His line breaks were very good and, one poor kick to touch aside, controlled the game fairly well. I think he has been told he is number one because his confidence is up.

Pretorious looks sharp. Perhaps too sharp for the rest of the team as he was so quick getting ball away from ruck the other players didnt react to him half the time.

Wardle looks overweight.

The scrum was fairly stable for 50 minutes. However, Shaun Knight on this performance, does not look up to the level. I hope he is ona one year contract.

After we switched the props our scrum struggled and they grew into the game. However, I am fairly positive based on what I saw in the first 45 minutes.

by Cardiff Dave Tue 15 Sep 2015, 9:04 pm

GavinDragon wrote:watched it on Iplayer last night and here are my thoughts.

For the first 45 minutes we played fairly well. Created 4 try scoring opportunities just couldnt finish them off because we were trying miracle ball offloads or just failed to keep hold of the ball in contact.

Tovey is nearing his best again. His line breaks were very good and, one poor kick to touch aside, controlled the game fairly well. I think he has been told he is number one because his confidence is up.

Pretorious looks sharp. Perhaps too sharp for the rest of the team as he was so quick getting ball away from ruck the other players didnt react to him half the time.

Wardle looks overweight.

The scrum was fairly stable for 50 minutes. However, Shaun Knight on this performance, does not look up to the level. I hope he is ona one year contract.

After we switched the props our scrum struggled and they grew into the game. However, I am fairly positive based on what I saw in the first 45 minutes.

Shudder. My legs have gone all trembly. Very Happy

by mikey_dragon Tue 15 Sep 2015, 10:22 pm

He's no Nicky Robinson or Ceri Sweeney is he Very Happy

.

by GavinDragon Wed 16 Sep 2015, 7:10 am

the dragged up forum is being very scathing of him. But he made two clean line breaks, by playing heads up rugby and spotting a fatty in front of him. OK he didn't finish either off but I don't think that was his fault and I would rather us be creating the breaks and not finishing them than not creating them at all

by munkian Wed 16 Sep 2015, 8:12 am

GavinDragon wrote:the dragged up forum is being very scathing of him. But he made two clean line breaks, by playing heads up rugby and spotting a fatty in front of him. OK he didn't finish either off but I don't think that was his fault and I would rather us be creating the breaks and not finishing them than not creating them at all

Agreed, it just feels more frustrating when we don't finish our chances though.

We seemed to be trying to play in the Wales style too - left to right and and back again but we didn't have anyone making the line breaks - we need a tidy backs coach

by GavinDragon Wed 16 Sep 2015, 8:51 am

I think we had tempo. And created overlaps which is probably more than wales do.

by Luckless Pedestrian Wed 16 Sep 2015, 9:58 am

munkian wrote:
GavinDragon wrote:the dragged up forum is being very scathing of him. But he made two clean line breaks, by playing heads up rugby and spotting a fatty in front of him. OK he didn't finish either off but I don't think that was his fault and I would rather us be creating the breaks and not finishing them than not creating them at all

Agreed, it just feels more frustrating when we don't finish our chances though.

We seemed to be trying to play in the Wales style too - left to right and and back again but we didn't have anyone making the line breaks - we need a tidy backs coach

We kept using a decoy runner in midfield, time after time, and it never fooled anyone. The players should have wised up to that and actually used that player once in a while.

by GavinDragon Wed 16 Sep 2015, 10:49 am

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:
munkian wrote:
GavinDragon wrote:the dragged up forum is being very scathing of him. But he made two clean line breaks, by playing heads up rugby and spotting a fatty in front of him. OK he didn't finish either off but I don't think that was his fault and I would rather us be creating the breaks and not finishing them than not creating them at all

Agreed, it just feels more frustrating when we don't finish our chances though.

We seemed to be trying to play in the Wales style too - left to right and and back again but we didn't have anyone making the line breaks - we need a tidy backs coach

We kept using a decoy runner in midfield, time after time, and it never fooled anyone. The players should have wised up to that and actually used that player once in a while.

it allowed Wardle to get on the outside on one occasion - to then only butcher a two on one, go to ground, try a miracle offload and turn the ball over

by Guest Wed 16 Sep 2015, 7:19 pm

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:
munkian wrote:
GavinDragon wrote:the dragged up forum is being very scathing of him. But he made two clean line breaks, by playing heads up rugby and spotting a fatty in front of him. OK he didn't finish either off but I don't think that was his fault and I would rather us be creating the breaks and not finishing them than not creating them at all

Agreed, it just feels more frustrating when we don't finish our chances though.

We seemed to be trying to play in the Wales style too - left to right and and back again but we didn't have anyone making the line breaks - we need a tidy backs coach

We kept using a decoy runner in midfield, time after time, and it never fooled anyone. The players should have wised up to that and actually used that player once in a while.

Spot on. The decoy runner is only effective if, at some point, he gets the ball and worries the defence. THEN they focus on him and are 'bamboozled' when he doesn't get the ball and is used as a decoy. But not BEFORE!

by SecretFly Wed 16 Sep 2015, 7:30 pm

That can be a slow one though. Built up slowly.
"They never use that decoy. Forget him." Bigger game down the track. He's used and tears.

I think some coaches would be thinking long term about fooling long-term thinking opposing coaches who think they've spotted a never ending strategic fault.

by Guest Thu 17 Sep 2015, 12:53 am

I've heard off another supporter (who is allegedly connected), that we trained with running things off Tyler and when he pulled out late, they went to poo as obviously they had nothing else to offer.

by GavinDragon Thu 17 Sep 2015, 7:25 am

If we created absolutely nothing in that match I would be worried, but we didnt. We created 3-4 clear cut opportunities.

I am more worried by the lack of depth in the front row, on the TH side in particular. We were unable to put them under pressure in second half because Shaun Knight kept being penalised in the scrum and giving Zebre field position

by Luckless Pedestrian Thu 17 Sep 2015, 7:40 am

Shaun Knight didn't look great at all. Early days, but it wasn't promising. In his defence, didn't Zebre bring on a former Test loosehead?

by Sponsored content