Newport Gwent Dragons 2016/17 thread

[Luckless Pedestrian]

First topic message reminder :

Seeing as no one else has set one up, I thought I'd start a 2016/17 season thread for the mighty Dragons.

The Dragons website doesn't have a straightforward list of the squad members, so the best I can do is a link to the page:

http://www.newportgwentdragons.com/Teams/Squad/Dragons

Fri, 05 Aug 2016      Rygbi Gogledd Cymru 1404 Parc Erias, Colwyn Bay F
Fri, 12 Aug 2016        Cardiff Blues Rodney Parade, Newport F
Sat, 20 Aug 2016        Ealing Trailfinders CCBC Centre for Sporting Excellence, Ystrad Mynach F
Fri, 26 Aug 2016        Exeter Chiefs Rodney Parade, Newport F

Fri, 02 Sep 2016        Ulster Kingspan Stadium, Belfast GP12 BBC N Ireland
Fri, 09 Sep 2016        Zebre Rugby Rodney Parade, Newport GP12
Sat, 17 Sep 2016               Munster Rodney Parade, Newport GP12 Sky Sports
Fri, 23 Sep 2016        Benetton Rugby Treviso Stadio Comunale di Monigo, Treviso GP12
Fri, 30 Sep 2016        Glasgow Warriors Rodney Parade, Newport GP12 BBC Two Wales

Sat, 08 Oct 2016        Scarlets Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli GP12 S4C
Sat, 29 Oct 2016        Ospreys Liberty Stadium, Swansea GP12 S4C, Sky Sports

Fri, 04 Nov 2016        Connacht Rodney Parade, Newport GP12
Sat, 12 Nov 2016        Leicester Tigers Welford Road, Leicester AWC
Fri, 18 Nov 2016         Scarlets Rodney Parade, Newport AWC
Sun, 27 Nov 2016        Edinburgh Rugby Rodney Parade, Newport GP12 S4C

Sat, 03 Dec 2016        Leinster Royal Dublin Society, Dublin GP12 S4C
Mon, 26 Dec 2016        Cardiff Blues Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff GP12 BBC Two Wales

Sun, 01 Jan 2017        Ospreys Rodney Parade, Newport GP12 BBC Two Wales
Fri, 06 Jan 2017      Benetton Rugby Treviso Rodney Parade, Newport GP12
Sun, 29 Jan 2017        Newcastle Falcons Rodney Parade, Newport AWC

Sat, 04 Feb 2017        Gloucester Rugby Kingsholm, Gloucester AWC
10/11/12 Feb 2017        Munster Thomond Park, Limerick GP12
17/18/19 Feb 2017        Connacht The Sportsground, Galway GP12
24/25/26 Feb 2017        Leinster Rodney Parade, Newport GP12

3/4/5 Mar 2017             Glasgow Warriors Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow GP12
24/25/26 Mar 2017        Ulster Rodney Parade, Newport GP12

7/8/9 Apr 2017      Zebre Rugby Stadio XXV Aprile, Parma GP12
Sat, 15 Apr 2017      Scarlets Rodney Parade, Newport GP12
28/29/30 Apr 2017        Edinburgh Rugby Murrayfield, Edinburgh GP12

Sat, 06 May 2017        Cardiff Blues Rodney Parade, Newport GP12

[RiscaGame]

Some chap on FB has said he's picked up a niggle and being rested.

That chap is a bit of a gimp mind

[munkian]

Some chap on FB has said he's picked up a niggle and being rested.

That chap is a bit of a gimp mind

[Stone Motif]

Funny I swear I was questioning Dixon (especially in defence) a year ago and now look who's stopped showing off and started to agree.. Quality player but needs to work on his defensive alignment and acceleration - losing weight would probably be a good start.

Can you even read? Genuine question.

[GavinDragon]

The application form to become a member of the Dragons Official Supporters' Club is now live on our website. If you would like to become a member and have access to a variety of benefits, you can register for FREE by completing the form on our website.

There will also be paper based forms available in the WFAC marquee at the Zebre game this evening for those who can't complete the website form, just hand a completed paper form to a DOSC volunteer in the marquee.

Here's to a good game and (hopefully) a Dragons win!

#StandupfortheMenofGwent

http://www.dragonssupportersclub.com/membership-application/

[mikey_dragon]

Might bump into you Gav. Having a quiet one though so trying to avoid the cider festival.

[GavinDragon]

Get down and have a few Mikey. FONR do a great job putting it on and there will be some fantastic beers and ciders on offer. You may not see me as I will be arriving late from Brizzle, but you will see a few other volunteers running around selling raffle tickets and face painting. Stone, I expect to see you first in the queue for the latter

[Luckless Pedestrian]

I've got a spare ticket for tonight's game, if anyone's interested. Hazell Terrace, so it's not like you'd have to sit next to me!

[mikey_dragon]

LD might want that.

[Stone Motif]

Get down and have a few Mikey. FONR do a great job putting it on and there will be some fantastic beers and ciders on offer. You may not see me as I will be arriving late from Brizzle, but you will see a few other volunteers running around selling raffle tickets and face painting. Stone, I expect to see you first in the queue for the latter

I'm all for fancy dress like but I'm not down with face painting. I dressed up as Hellboy once and that sh7t got everywhere.

[GavinDragon]

I bet Mrs Stone wasn't best pleased!

[munkian]

Gutted to miss the beer festival and the match but Im off to Deutschland first thing tomorrow

Heres a squad injury update

Last weekend saw the Men of Gwent take on Ulster at Kingspan Stadium where Ollie Griffiths suffered a blow to his AC joint (shoulder). He has been reviewed by a specialist and should be available within the next couple of weeks.

Fullback Carl Meyer suffered a concussion during the match against Ulster. The 25-year-old is now back in training but was unavailable for selection for tonight’s match.

Adam Hughes is currently following the return to play protocol after suffering a head injury against Cardiff Blues during the Dragons pre-season friendly.

Fly half Dorian Jones is making good progress through rehab for his groin issue, and is currently increasing his training workload in preparation to return to full training.

Phil Price, who had shoulder surgery during the Summer is due to return to full training shortly. He is expected to be available for the Dragons in the next few weeks.

Elliot Dee will be undertaking a period of rehab with the Dragons medical team following the ankle surgery he underwent this week. He is anticipated to return in late November / early December.

Winger Ross Wardle has undergone knee surgery which will require a rehabilitation period of several months.

Ashton Hewitt (Shoulder) and Tom Prydie (Knee) have recovered fully from their injuries and will feature for Newport and Bedwas respectively in the Principality Premiership this weekend.

[GavinDragon]

Good to see an update. Let's hope that is a continuing trend from the region this season!

Wayne, Dragons South U16s 17 - 17 Ospreys West

Some good scores

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY2fxZQIIgc

[RiscaGame]

So nothing on Dixon then.

[LordDowlais]

LD might want that.

Why dont you take him up on the offer mikey ? It might be your first ever game you have gone to watch, go on go, give your parents a break for once, give them the chance to have a quiet 2 hrs and let them enjoy their internet without you hogging it. Do it for them.


I can quite afford my own tickets thanks. Have a good night out LP.

[wayne]

Good to see an update. Let's hope that is a continuing trend from the region this season!

Wayne, Dragons South U16s 17 - 17 Ospreys West

Some good scores

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY2fxZQIIgc

Yes watched it this morning Gav, let's hope this inventiveness is not coached out of these kids.
The East section also drew against Blues South 31-31

[RiscaGame]

So nothing on Dixon then.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

I still haven't heard anything. It must be a niggle, surely?

[Luckless Pedestrian]

LD might want that.

Why dont you take him up on the offer mikey ? It might be your first ever game you have gone to watch, go on go, give your parents a break for once, give them the chance to have a quiet 2 hrs and let them enjoy their internet without you hogging it. Do it for them.


I can quite afford my own tickets thanks. Have a good night out LP.

[mikey_dragon]

LD might want that.

Why dont you take him up on the offer mikey ? It might be your first ever game you have gone to watch, go on go, give your parents a break for once, give them the chance to have a quiet 2 hrs and let them enjoy their internet without you hogging it. Do it for them.


I can quite afford my own tickets thanks. Have a good night out LP.

Umm... I'm already going, and it won't be my first game either Andy, far from it. You should really drop this attitude that you're a bigger and more knowledgeable fan than everyone else because you get to be billy-no-mates and cherry pick some of the regions' home games that you attend. It was foolish of me to think you'd have cherrypicked us this week given the opposition, but I'm not particularly concerned as you continuously prove that you're still the biggest fool on this forum. Think before you click your knuckles Andy and you just might not embarrass yourself with cretinous and unfunny posts like this one.

[LordDowlais]

Ok, no........Sorry.



mikey, you are so predictable, never mind, you have made me laugh today.

Enjoy your night out.

I will argue with you on another day.

[mikey_dragon]

Later Andy.

[RiscaGame]

I still haven't heard anything. It must be a niggle, surely?

Was asking again, just to try to bypass the two characters disrupting the thread.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

[Stone Motif]

If anyone bothered with this, face painting wouldn't have been such a bad idea. If they had some cement to do the eyes that is. Who stood out for their attacking play?

[mikey_dragon]

Rubbish like last year.

[dragon4life]

We lack execution in the opposition 22 like trying to offload the miricale ball, we need to take it down and have another phase. Landman and Jackson were stand out for us. I think we should start Fairbrother and Hobbs as they look our best scrummaging unit. Amos had a mixed game offering threat in attack but also made basic errors such as intercepte pass. Pat Howard looks the real deal on the wing, very direct- will be interesting when Meyer, Hewitt and Prydie are all fit for back three

[Stone Motif]

You can recruit a squad to implementa plan, but you cannot force a plan onto a squad of players unless they aare very talented. When you are picking up players off the reduced shelf it's ludicrous to think a switch can be flipped to make them a fluid attacking team.

Gatland has the same problem with a team of limited talent/intelligence and no ability to buy in greater creativity. He's also a limited coach surrounded by guys who probably wouldn't be coaching at a high level anywhere else. The Dragons are a microcosm of that situation.

We ought to take a lead out of their book and recognise our limitations and cross fit the players all summer, put a stone on each of them and get their conditioning up to pro levels, and hope that the limited football we have Un the squad, in the back row and outside backs, can score against a beat-up opposition.

It ain't pretty and it's boring as he'll but it's the only improvement achievable for lot of our players. Hoping that a limited set of coaches can impose skills, consistency and attributes these players don't and never will possess is madness.

My alter ego on Dragged Up had this to say

[mikey_dragon]

Surely you don't believe our backs are lacking in skills? We have good backs, even McLeod and Howard look good, as well as Hewitt, Morgan, Amos, etc. There was also Jonny Evans but he moved on. Last night a few of them sure did look bereft of any skill-set - I put that down to bad coaching, so not only do we need a few new players but we also need a new coaching team. Even the driving maul looks like it has gone backwards...

[Stone Motif]

Yes, but as mentioned above a fast game starts in the midfield. Any 9-10-12 is bereft of either pace, power or consistency whoever is picked, and our error count is appalling, a criticism that applies even to our most accomplished back in Amos. I don't think their talent ceiling is very high (apart from Morgan) but they can all make physical gains.

[GavinDragon]

Last night reminded me of watching Wales in the autumn of 2005. Far too lateral and no enough go forward. Ironically having Dixon at 12 would have been better last night to give go forward and we certainly missed Ollie.

Ed Jackson's best game for us by a country mile. Got over the gainline and didn't spill ball once.

[Stone Motif]

Last night reminded me of watching Wales in the autumn of 2005. Far too lateral and no enough go forward. Ironically having Dixon at 12 would have been better last night to give go forward and we certainly missed Ollie.

Ed Jackson's best game for us by a country mile. Got over the gainline and didn't spill ball once.

Again like the current Welsh team, in the absence of any real carriers in the forwards bar 1 or 2, the ability to use Dixon as Jaw-lite will generate more yards gained than our lot trying to chuck it round with gay abandon.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

I was furious that we didn't go for the posts when we got a kickable penalty with about 10 minutes left. The hope of a bonus point was long gone by then, and it was a 5-point lead - we should have made it 8 and made sure of the win. All it would have taken was an intercept, under the sticks, and we'd have lost. We almost deserved to for that idiocy alone.

Speaking of kicks, we should have taken every kickable penalty early on and built a lead that way, instead of obsessing with scoring tries. Entertaiment is all well and good, but the objective is winning above anything else. If we'd had a bigger lead, the tries would / might have been more likely to come.

Tyler Morgan needs a kick up the @rse, he was well off the pace.

[mikey_dragon]

Were you the one behind me in the Hazell Terrace complaining about that? He pretty much said what you're saying there, and said it a good few times! I guess I'm not being very specific, wearing a cap and slightly dark skin tone? Natural one by the way not a sunbed one.

A few players need a kick up the behind but especially ones like Morgan, Amos, etc. I can't see them retaining their places in the international squad on this form.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

I was on the Hazell Terrace near halfway, but not wearing a cap. In fairness, there were other people around me (and all around the ground, probably) saying the same thing.

[mikey_dragon]

Yeah pretty much, my boss hasn't long said it to me either. Most people I've spoken to also agree that it's going to be the 'same old story' this season, I can't see our form drastically improving in the league. I wonder how Brive are playing and if we'll still do a bit better in the challenge cup?

[Luckless Pedestrian]

I almost hope we don't do anything in Europe this season, so they can't use it as a figleaf for our form in the league. That's where we need to start improving - and for what it's worth, I don't think last Friday's performance is necessarily a sign of what's come. It was one of those rare games we're expected to win, and it doesn't sit well with us. It's like how Wales used to play against Italy.

[Stone Motif]

I was furious that we didn't go for the posts when we got a kickable penalty with about 10 minutes left. The hope of a bonus point was long gone by then, and it was a 5-point lead - we should have made it 8 and made sure of the win. All it would have taken was an intercept, under the sticks, and we'd have lost. We almost deserved to for that idiocy alone.

Speaking of kicks, we should have taken every kickable penalty early on and built a lead that way, instead of obsessing with scoring tries. Entertaiment is all well and good, but the objective is winning above anything else. If we'd had a bigger lead, the tries would / might have been more likely to come.

Tyler Morgan needs a kick up the @rse, he was well off the pace.

This. Although with Meyer (and/or Prydie for the five mins prior to his next injury) off the field our goal kicking is as reliable as an Amos pass.

[Cardiff Dave]

I almost hope we don't do anything in Europe this season, so they can't use it as a figleaf for our form in the league. That's where we need to start improving - and for what it's worth, I don't think last Friday's performance is necessarily a sign of what's come. It was one of those rare games we're expected to win, and it doesn't sit well with us. It's like how Wales used to play against Italy.

I remember being shocked at the time...

"Dragons 15-24 Overmach Parma 2006

Overmach Parma qualified for the Heineken Cup for the first time with a landmark win at Newport Gwent Dragons.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/4770225.stm

"Dragons the first Welsh region not to make the Heineken Cup.

The cash-strapped Gwent region will now play in the European Challenge Cup next season.

An 87th-minute turnover allowed USA Eagles full-back Emerick in for the closing try, leaving Rodney Parade echoing to the boos of its long-suffering fans."

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Well that was necessary.

[Stone Motif]

http://m.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/14740305.Cheers_us__don_t_jeer_us_against_Munster___Dragons_wing_Pat_Howard_pleads_with_Rodney_Parade_faithful_to_help_them_turn_over_Munster/

almost as necessary as this sh1t: okay Pat, three cheers for Gwent it is.  

FFS, does this clown have any awareness of the enormity of the sh1te sandwich that has been served up at Dave Parade for the last decade?

[mikey_dragon]

That's what I thought, so the answer is of course no. Still, I have lots of admiration for the supporters who have been season ticket holders for every single year over the last decade.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

It was misjudged, and I'm sure he regrets saying it.

[LordDowlais]

OMG, I was reading this this morning. I know some of you Dragons fans can be really sapping on here. But now you are rubbing off on your team.

What was Pat Howard expecting when he signed ? Did he not check the history of the region ?

So there you have it. It's all the fans fault for being so negative.

P.S, I am only having a laugh, before stone, mikey and risca start going berserk.

[ScarletSpiderman]

But now you are rubbing off on your team.

You shouldn't do that, it is perverse and you can be arrested for it.

What was Pat Howard expecting when he signed ? Did he not check the history of the region ?

So there you have it. It's all the fans fault for being so negative.

I'm hoping that he didn't realise that in Wales when a player makes a comment like that it is going to get a fair bit of paper space. Although on the plus side, he came out and said it after a win, which is not half as bad as if he had said it after a loss.

[Stone Motif]

OMG, I was reading this this morning. I know some of you Dragons fans can be really sapping on here. But now you are rubbing off on your team.

What was Pat Howard expecting when he signed ? Did he not check the history of the region ?

So there you have it. It's all the fans fault for being so negative.

P.S, I am only having a laugh, before stone, mikey and risca start going berserk.

Thought you'd have been all over this Andy, regurgitate that lot and there's some Fail gold right there

[LordDowlais]

Thought you'd have been all over this Andy, regurgitate that lot and there's some Fail gold right there

Were you the one shouting at them from the stand stoney ? Its sounds just like you.

[Stone Motif]

Thought you'd have been all over this Andy, regurgitate that lot and there's some Fail gold right there

Were you the one shouting at them from the stand stoney ? Its sounds just like you.

It would be a bit hypocritical of me to pay money fort the privilege of watching Dragons v Zebre Andy.

[mikey_dragon]

Thought you'd have been all over this Andy, regurgitate that lot and there's some Fail gold right there

Were you the one shouting at them from the stand stoney ? Its sounds just like you.

It would be a bit hypocritical of me to pay money fort the privilege of watching Dragons v Zebre Andy.

Are you sure you went there now? Andy wants a photocopy of your ticket, or a screenshot of your email. Ta.

[LordDowlais]

Don't worry mikey, I know it wasn't you.

[mikey_dragon]

Don't worry mikey, I know it wasn't you.

Not sure I understand, but good one, Andy. I think for a moment there we all forgot that you know everything about everyone . I don't get why you post on here - is it a slow time of year for getting carpets fitted? You certainly aren't here to disucss rugby as nobody takes your random outbursts and click-bait sharing seriously - and lately you're acting rather childish, more often than usual. I will ask for the others sake that you keep it off this thread as there's some good Welsh fans here wishing to discuss rugby and they also happen to be 'men of gwent'. Ta.

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