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

[Guest]

P.s. I'm not trying to turn this into a p*ssing contest (honest ) but if you're wanting to look at county borough populations instead of town populace then Newport is actually 306,000 people. Just the city of Newport is 145,000.

[LordDowlais]

I took my info of the both boroughs.

You might have all those people in Newport, then why can't you ever fill out RP ? All the other regions almost double your attendances.

[Steffan]

I'm still waiting for someone to actually mention the game against Treviso tonight at Mudbath Parade...

To all the Dragons fans on here who were obviously there watching it. Good game? Happy with the result of course I'm sure

[LordDowlais]

Mudbath Parade...

Good name Stef.

Are you off up North tomorrow ?

I wonder if any of these lot will be watching the big Gwent derby tomorrow ? I was talking to Josh Prosser today, Cross Keys fly half, he is well up for this one. Ebbw need the win to get into the top eight play-offs.

Any Gwent boys on here going ?

[Steffan]

Mudbath Parade...

Good name Stef.

Are you off up North tomorrow ?

I wonder if any of these lot will be watching the big Gwent derby tomorrow ? I was talking to Josh Prosser today, Cross Keys fly half, he is well up for this one. Ebbw need the win to get into the top eight play-offs.

Any Gwent boys on here going ?

Nah I got some work on tomorrow so cash comes first. Wish I was going mind although I don't envy the long trek back

As for the Mudbath pitch. I just wish we had one like that at Ponty. Would finally us be showing some ambition for a change rather than mooching of the Blues and having some crappy 4G pitch thing

What's happened to Ebbw by the way? Only seems like yesterday that berk of a mod Bedford and the rest of his Ponty hating merry men were enjoying them winning the title at Sardis. Now they might not even make the top eight. Very strange

[RiscaGame]

Trust you to like that Dowlais.

Mudbath Parade makes little sense. It isn't even a play on words. Even somebody with limited intelligence could come up with Bogney Parade or something.

Do you two want to have your conversation via PM or something? Do you want to start a thread on Keys v Ebbw, Dowlais?

Well done Dragons on the win. Good to see our driving lineout back.

[GavinDragon]

I am going up LD. And a couple of the DOSC are too.

[Guest]

I took my info of the both boroughs.

You might have all those people in Newport, then why can't you ever fill out RP ? All the other regions almost double your attendances.

Pontypridd isn't a county borough though. It's a town.

[Steffan]

Even somebody with limited intelligence could come up with Bogney Parade or something

Your point being superbly proven

Anyway...what's your take on these "new developments" in WOL then? Just more cash being pumped in to the clubs or a change of region somewhere (Newport to Merthyr as LD is suggesting or Newport to North Wales as Michael Owen suggested)

*** Apologies in advance for any bad English before you go on some petty little correction mission

[LordDowlais]

I am going up LD. And a couple of the DOSC are too.

Good for you Gav, perhaps you can help others on here appreciate that the Welsh prem is a decent standard and not full of larger louts. It should be a cracker tomorrow, I hope you have a good day, the weather does not bode well for you though.

Have a good one.

[Guest]

Just for balance, Luke Charteris has added his 2 cents worth:

"Another former Dragon Luke Charteris feels the region needs to remain in Gwent, however.

The Wales and Bath lock said: "Someone needs to come in and if they can't get a new investor then I think it is imperative the WRU do step in.

"What you can't afford is to lose the Dragons. They are one of the original regions and this is a strong region for rugby.

"The Dragons still have the youngsters coming through. They always have, so you have to have that that team for them.

"If the WRU took them over, perhaps the chance for those youngsters would even increase."

[Guest]

I am going up LD. And a couple of the DOSC are too.

Good for you Gav, perhaps you can help others on here appreciate that the Welsh prem is a decent standard and not full of larger louts. It should be a cracker tomorrow, I hope you have a good day, the weather does not bode well for you though.

Have a good one.

Which others?

[Steffan]

I am going up LD. And a couple of the DOSC are too.

Even if Ebbw lose I think Bedwas will do their fellow Gwent team a favour and beat Cardiff which as far as I'm aware takes Ebbw through

[LordDowlais]

Even somebody with limited intelligence could come up with Bogney Parade or something

Your point being superbly proven

Anyway...what's your take on these "new developments" in WOL then? Just more cash being pumped in to the clubs or a change of region somewhere (Newport to Merthyr as LD is suggesting or Newport to North Wales as Michael Owen suggested)

*** Apologies in advance for any bad English before you go on some petty little correction mission

We can't have one up here Stef, Griff has already told me, we are not the bustling metropolis that Newport is, they have squilions of people in Newprt with superior infrastructure and transport links, yet they can only get mudbath parade just under half full for a match day, even with all this stuff going for them.

[LordDowlais]

I am going up LD. And a couple of the DOSC are too.

Good for you Gav, perhaps you can help others on here appreciate that the Welsh prem is a decent standard and not full of larger louts. It should be a cracker tomorrow, I hope you have a good day, the weather does not bode well for you though.

Have a good one.

Which others?

stone motif for starters.

[LordDowlais]

I am going up LD. And a couple of the DOSC are too.

Even if Ebbw lose I think Bedwas will do their fellow Gwent team a favour and beat Cardiff which as far as I'm aware takes Ebbw through

Bedwas are playing some good stuff this season Stef.

[GavinDragon]

I had hoped that as many Gwent teams as possible went through. Bedwas have done very well this season, Ebbw Vale should scrape in. Cross Keys have been disappointing considering the players they have access to. Newport's good run of form came too late for them sadly and Bargoed, with respect, have done extremely well to even get to the premiership, but it will be a far richer competition when Pooler take their place in 3 years time.

There are a number of Dragons prospects on show tomorrow. Harrison Keddie and Max Williams for Ebbw Vale. Leon Brown, Luke Garrett, Scott Andrews & Barney Nightingale for Cross Keys

[Steffan]

I am going up LD. And a couple of the DOSC are too.

Even if Ebbw lose I think Bedwas will do their fellow Gwent team a favour and beat Cardiff which as far as I'm aware takes Ebbw through

Bedwas are playing some good stuff this season Stef.

Yes they will be the only Gwent team remaining if Ebbw don't make it through

Good luck to them (apart from when playing Ponty)

[RiscaGame]

How can Luke Garrett be playing for Cross Keys again? He shouldn't have played last week v Newport either. Is he no longer with Scarlets?

[LordDowlais]

I am going up LD. And a couple of the DOSC are too.

Even if Ebbw lose I think Bedwas will do their fellow Gwent team a favour and beat Cardiff which as far as I'm aware takes Ebbw through

Bedwas are playing some good stuff this season Stef.

Yes they will be the only Gwent team remaining if Ebbw don't make it through

Good luck to them (apart from when playing Ponty)

They had a few regional players when they ripped us a new one at the Wern a few months back.

They are deffo the best Gwent side. I laughed my head off just before Xmas when they beat Ebbw, I know two brothers who are on the Ebbw committee, I was having a pint with them the following week, they were absolutely livid, they were ripping the ref to shreds, and Stan Thomas.

[Guest]

Even somebody with limited intelligence could come up with Bogney Parade or something

Your point being superbly proven

Anyway...what's your take on these "new developments" in WOL then? Just more cash being pumped in to the clubs or a change of region somewhere (Newport to Merthyr as LD is suggesting or Newport to North Wales as Michael Owen suggested)

*** Apologies in advance for any bad English before you go on some petty little correction mission

We can't have one up here Stef, Griff has already told me, we are not the bustling metropolis that Newport is, they have squilions of people in Newprt with superior infrastructure and transport links, yet they can only get mudbath parade just under half full for a match day, even with all this stuff going for them.

OK so you think Merthyr will get bigger crowds than the Dragons in Newport. So more than the 6 or 7 thousand at RP? Fair enough. How many do you think Merthyr will get? 10,000 crowds, perhaps? So 1 in 5 of all people in Merthyr County Borough will attend the games each week? You're dreaming! That would be akin to Leinster getting a crowd of 500,000 (1 in 5)! Nuts.

[LordDowlais]

OK so you think Merthyr will get bigger crowds than the Dragons in Newport. So more than the 6 or 7 thousand at RP? Fair enough. How many do you think Merthyr will get? 10,000 crowds, perhaps? So 1 in 5 of all people in Merthyr County Borough will attend the games each week? You're dreaming! That would be akin to Leinster getting a crowd of 500,000 (1 in 5)! Nuts.

I never said that, and only in your wildest dreams would Dragons be getting 6 or 7 thousand every week. What I would expect is, an owner who would put some money in, make a product that is worth watching, and attract fans from all over the valleys. The exact opposite to what is happening down at Newport actually. I would not even expect the region to have the name Merthyr in it, just base it here.

[Guest]

OK so you think Merthyr will get bigger crowds than the Dragons in Newport. So more than the 6 or 7 thousand at RP? Fair enough. How many do you think Merthyr will get? 10,000 crowds, perhaps? So 1 in 5 of all people in Merthyr County Borough will attend the games each week? You're dreaming! That would be akin to Leinster getting a crowd of 500,000 (1 in 5)! Nuts.

I never said that, and only in your wildest dreams would Dragons be getting 6 or 7 thousand every week. What I would expect is, an owner who would put some money in, make a product that is worth watching, and attract fans from all over the valleys. The exact opposite to what is happening down at Newport actually. I would not even expect the region to have the name Merthyr in it, just base it here.

Not going to happen. You know how parochial rugby fans are. Ponty fans would not support anything that wasn't Ponty. And as you've rightly pointed out in the past, why should they? They'll be quite happy continuing to support Ponty rather than some made up 'regional' entity in Merthyr, and so they should.

[LordDowlais]

OK so you think Merthyr will get bigger crowds than the Dragons in Newport. So more than the 6 or 7 thousand at RP? Fair enough. How many do you think Merthyr will get? 10,000 crowds, perhaps? So 1 in 5 of all people in Merthyr County Borough will attend the games each week? You're dreaming! That would be akin to Leinster getting a crowd of 500,000 (1 in 5)! Nuts.

I never said that, and only in your wildest dreams would Dragons be getting 6 or 7 thousand every week. What I would expect is, an owner who would put some money in, make a product that is worth watching, and attract fans from all over the valleys. The exact opposite to what is happening down at Newport actually. I would not even expect the region to have the name Merthyr in it, just base it here.

Not going to happen. You know how parochial rugby fans are. Ponty fans would not support anything that wasn't Ponty. And as you've rightly pointed out in the past, why should they? They'll be quite happy continuing to support Ponty rather than some made up 'regional' entity in Merthyr, and so they should.

No, you are wrong, Ponty fans will not support anything that is Cardiff. They filled out Sardis for the Warriors and I traveled with quite a lot of them to the Brewery when they were there as well, it might surprise you but a vast chunk of the Pontypridd support comes from the Rhondda not Ponty, it is not anything rather than Ponty, it is anything rather than Cardiff, which is what they were tried to be forced to do. The vast majority of Pontypridd fans embraced the Warriors.

[Guest]

OK so you think Merthyr will get bigger crowds than the Dragons in Newport. So more than the 6 or 7 thousand at RP? Fair enough. How many do you think Merthyr will get? 10,000 crowds, perhaps? So 1 in 5 of all people in Merthyr County Borough will attend the games each week? You're dreaming! That would be akin to Leinster getting a crowd of 500,000 (1 in 5)! Nuts.

I never said that, and only in your wildest dreams would Dragons be getting 6 or 7 thousand every week. What I would expect is, an owner who would put some money in, make a product that is worth watching, and attract fans from all over the valleys. The exact opposite to what is happening down at Newport actually. I would not even expect the region to have the name Merthyr in it, just base it here.

Not going to happen. You know how parochial rugby fans are. Ponty fans would not support anything that wasn't Ponty. And as you've rightly pointed out in the past, why should they? They'll be quite happy continuing to support Ponty rather than some made up 'regional' entity in Merthyr, and so they should.

No, you are wrong, Ponty fans will not support anything that is Cardiff. They filled out Sardis for the Warriors and I traveled with quite a lot of them to the Brewery when they were there as well, it might surprise you but a vast chunk of the Pontypridd support comes from the Rhondda not Ponty, it is not anything rather than Ponty, it is anything rather than Cardiff, which is what they were tried to be forced to do. The vast majority of Pontypridd fans embraced the Warriors.

The attendances at the Brewery field for the Warriors suggests otherwise.

[True Raven]

OK so you think Merthyr will get bigger crowds than the Dragons in Newport. So more than the 6 or 7 thousand at RP? Fair enough. How many do you think Merthyr will get? 10,000 crowds, perhaps? So 1 in 5 of all people in Merthyr County Borough will attend the games each week? You're dreaming! That would be akin to Leinster getting a crowd of 500,000 (1 in 5)! Nuts.

I never said that, and only in your wildest dreams would Dragons be getting 6 or 7 thousand every week. What I would expect is, an owner who would put some money in, make a product that is worth watching, and attract fans from all over the valleys. The exact opposite to what is happening down at Newport actually. I would not even expect the region to have the name Merthyr in it, just base it here.

Not going to happen. You know how parochial rugby fans are. Ponty fans would not support anything that wasn't Ponty. And as you've rightly pointed out in the past, why should they? They'll be quite happy continuing to support Ponty rather than some made up 'regional' entity in Merthyr, and so they should.

No, you are wrong, Ponty fans will not support anything that is Cardiff. They filled out Sardis for the Warriors and I traveled with quite a lot of them to the Brewery when they were there as well, it might surprise you but a vast chunk of the Pontypridd support comes from the Rhondda not Ponty, it is not anything rather than Ponty, it is anything rather than Cardiff, which is what they were tried to be forced to do. The vast majority of Pontypridd fans embraced the Warriors.

Did they f***!  They stayed away cos they had their knickers in a twist that games were not at Sardis road.  Ponty believed they were bigger than Bridgend and deserved to host the games hence hey didn't show up.  Therefore the region got disbanded

[RiscaGame]

Stop arguing against Dowlais. He's right. Sooner everybody accepts that, the better. Facts prove nothing.

[RiscaGame]

I saw a stat written earlier about average league attendances. 2500 average. Must've turned up in their droves from every valley?

[ScarletSpiderman]

I honestly think be of the biggest issues the Dragon face, is the amount of either negativity, or worst patronising comments, that is given towards them in the press/forums. Back in the LV= they had a similar crowd to the Blues, yet the fail said something like "considering it's the Anglo-Welsh cup, and Wales are playing, it's a good turn out for the Blues" and "another poor turn out ar Rodney parade".

[RiscaGame]

Standard. It's because the papers know they can get clicks via a Dragons bash. The "disenfranchised" lap it up. Our national newspaper would rather do that, than really investigate things like what is happening at the regions. Still, as long as people gain them clicks, who cares?

[Steffan]

I honestly think be of the biggest issues the Dragon face, is the amount of either negativity, or worst patronising comments, that is given towards them in the press/forums

How is that a major issue though?

Something written on a forum or in a newspaper does not change how the players play or how good/bad things are run behind the scenes

My own club Ponty have been the centre of constant bashing on here for the last 3 years to excessive levels. Even a moderator has been getting involved in on the abuse and encouraging it. You know as well as I do that even if a Ponty supporter joined this forum and talked "sense" (in certain peopels opinions) the usual suspects would try to bully him/her off the forum. I don't blame that for last seasons dip in performance though

In the old days everyone I knew hated Man Utd (other than their "supporters") and every paper in the UK was slating them or trying to get dirt on all the players. Didn't stop them winning all those trophies though

So in all honestly I don't get how someone slating them on a forum or some dogyard journalist writing for the Fail creates any major issues at all

Get the results and people can write what the like. No issue at all

[Steffan]

Even golf buggy man is getting in on the bashing act with Cardiff City

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/former-wales-rugby-star-brands-12422365#ICID=FB-Wales-main

Poor little Dragons not the only victims of being used as "clickbait" then

Cardiff City get it worse in the press than anyone in the Welsh press I find (but just get on with as all professional sports teams should)

Powell isn't called 'M*ng' for nothing I guess

[Jimmy Moz]

First post of the year so go easy on me lol. I was at Rodney Parade for the Ospreys game. Thankfully it was a freebie with my son's mini rugby team. Must admit I've seen him play on village pitches better than that. Hope they get it sorted soon.

As for the Dragons future, I do not think they should be disbanded, but possibly should receive even less funding and then that money can go towards the grass routes game. The 2015 RWC showed the lack of in depth talent that Wales has.

Sadly for Merthyr's sake I think it would suffer as a region due to the lack of transport. Newport may well be less desirable to visit than Beirut, but it still has good transport links.

Some of the Dragons supporters do baffle me on here. They seem happy to sit at the bottom of the Pro 12 propped up only by the Italian teams while at the same time chastising Pontypridd for having no ambition, yet when a team like Merthyr show some ambition they shout it down as a pipe dream .

None such queer as folk should be the slogan of Welsh rugby. J

[Guest]

Where has anyone chastised Pontypridd for having ambition Jimmy?
Which Dragons fans are happy sitting at the bottom of the Pro12?

I think you've made those two parts of your post up!

[ScarletSpiderman]

Steff, there's a difference between a decade of unbalanced negativity without ever really offering solutions, to a setup that is clearly in trouble, and people retaliating to barb comments and digs in kind.

The Dragons are in the unenviable situation where they are on the receiving end of the poop from those above (the other regions) and those below them (disgruntled Welsh prem). Whenever they try to do something for the better, they get either ignored or holes dug in their plans, and when stuff goes wrong there is a queue there to put the boot in.

[Steffan]

Personally I don't see why Newport Gwent Dragons are in an unenviable situation at all. They have a professional rugby team that plays in professional rugby competitions

Clearly there is no danger from any Premiership side as let's be honest Ponty, Ebbw, Merthyr or anyone else could win the league for the next 20 years and nothing would happen just the same old thing the season after. Much like if the Dragons finished bottom of the Pro 12 for the next 20 years nothing would happen. How is that unenviable???

Yeah they take some stick off the bigger boys and the press but hey...that's sport...everyone likes at laugh at the whipping boys of the league as much as they like to see the mighty fall like in football with Man Utd. It's professional rugby at the end of the day. They should be glad they got it

So please tell me again why everyone else in Welsh rugby so be so grateful they are not in this "unenviable situation"

[2ndtimeround]

Maybe it would be good if the WRU did take over the Dragons, now they seem to be willing to retain the existing regions it might help to have an owner that could invest in the stadium and playing surface outside of the squad budget.
As for a North Wales region, if they can keep growing the game up there, the stadium debt finishing, a new generation of fans coming through that don't really care about the old club sides etc then I don't see why Wales can not support a 5th region.
We can get 80,000 fans into the Millenium Stadium for Wales games, surely from a population of 3,000,000 we should find a way to attract 50k to the regional games, that's less than 2% of the population but would be 10K gates each.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

LD. I have ambitions to start a multimillion pound business. Just need a 10k investment which I don't have at the moment. See? Doesn't matter how ambitious you are, if you don't have the money, you can't realise ambition.

What you have is not ambition, it's delusions of grandeur.

That's not what delusions of grandeur means at all.

'Delusions of grandeur are false beliefs held by an individual in which they believe with full conviction that they are a celebrity, person of high rank, omnipotent, and/or a powerful entity – despite significant evidence to the contrary. Imagine waking up one day thinking that you’re the president of the United States, despite the fact that you’re homeless and living on the streets. This would be an example of a grandiose delusion – your perceived sense of importance becomes inflated for no legitimate reason.'

http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/05/12/delusions-of-grandeur-causes-symptoms-treatment/

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Dragons: C Meyer, T Prydie, T Morgan, J Dixon, A Warren, D Jones, S Pretorius, S Hobbs, R Thomas, B Harris, M Screech, R Landman, N Crosswell (captain), N Cudd, E Jackson. Replacements: R Buckley, T Davies, L Fairbrother, C Hill, H Keddie, T Knoyle, A O'Brien, A Hughes.

Enisei: TBA

Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)

[munkian]

Dragons: C Meyer, T Prydie, T Morgan, J Dixon, A Warren, D Jones, S Pretorius, S Hobbs, R Thomas, B Harris, M Screech, R Landman, N Crosswell (captain), N Cudd, E Jackson. Replacements: R Buckley, T Davies, L Fairbrother, C Hill, H Keddie, T Knoyle, A O'Brien, A Hughes.

Enisei: TBA

Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)

A few players back in the side from injury then - shouldn't Dorian start on the bench considering his absence ?

Great to see Hughes back.

[RiscaGame]

Bit of a strange selection. Least we have two actual locks at lock this week, but all the talk has been about the need for a BP win and then we pick our least attacking player at 7 and seemingly rest one of our better try scorers (Howard).

I am sure we will be fine, but if we are aware that we need to win well I don't get the need for five changes to a winning team. I also wouldn't have started Dorian, but I guess it is the kind of game you would want your son to have his first start back in.

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