Dragons RFC - new name, new season: 2022/23

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New name, bit of a rebrand…..but same old Dragons? Hopefully not!

Player movements:

Players In:

Bradley Roberts from Ireland Ulster
JJ Hanrahan from France Clermont
Rhodri Jones from Wales Ospreys
Sean Lonsdale from England Exeter Chiefs
Max Clark from England Bath
George Nott from England London Irish
Sio Tomkinson from New Zealand Highlanders
Angus O'Brien from Wales Scarlets
Lewis Jones from Wales Cardiff
Rob Evans from Wales Scarlets


Players Out:

Taylor Davies returned to Wales Scarlets
Dan Babos released
Mesake Doge released
Tom Griffiths released
Jordan Olowofela returned to England Leicester Tigers
Max Williams released
Josh Lewis to Wales Merthyr
Jonah Holmes to England Ealing Trailfinders
Dan Baker to Wales Aberavon
Owen Jenkins to Wales Wales Sevens
Will Talbot-Davies to England Coventry
Greg Bateman retired
Joe Maksymiw to France Agen
Evan Lloyd to Wales Ebbw Vale
Carrick McDonough to Wales Ebbw Vale
Adam Warren to Wales Llandovery
Harry Fry to England Hartpury University

Some decent signings there, on paper. And lots of players leaving who were not that good. But also losing a couple of decent ones in Doge and Holmes.

Fingers crossed for a few more wins this season

I think it would be worth having him over Cory Allen. Going forward I would also continue with TH and lock forward investment, if at all possible. Hooker as well if we lose one to team Wales and Elliot Dee moves elsewhere.

There's probably a good chance that Dee might be less keen to leave, now Dean the Dinosaur has gone. Guess it depends as to how many mins he plays behind Roberts.

Looks like Roberts is actively trying so far, and playing quite well. Gotta be honest I haven't seen that from Dee in a while.

Roberts has been excellent.

I actually think Shipp should be given some backup chances. Purely from a tactical viewpoint I probably would let Dee go as one of the other regions would probably pick him up. He's not the same player he was a couple of seasons ago and hasn't really kicked on like he should have. I'm guessing he probably is on good wages as well so I would use that cash to go out and get a quality 9. I'd love for us to pick up Blacker from the Scarlets with the promises of game time. He look's quality every time he gets a chance but he just isn't seeing the games at the Scarlets.

I'm still on the fence with Williams, Bertranou and Jones at 9. It's an area I think they really need to look at.

The good news is a bulk of our squad is quite young which means as long as they can keep them together they a strong base to build from when you compare it to the ageing squads at the other regions.

I think Roberts came away from Edinburgh with some credit. Two games in and the stats also back him up. If Dee goes, likely to Cardiff, I’d prefer a decent NWQ to come in. Cardiff will also be lurking for Rowlands and Nott in the coming seasons, that I can bet you on. I wish we had signed Joe Peard, he would still be better than Davies.

Scrum-half - well the first two options are good. I agree Dane Blacker looks good enough to be a starter. It would make sense for him to move on, it wouldn’t make sense for him to join us unless Gonzalo is gone - Lewis Jones is meh. Looks as though Ospreys need a decent 9 behind Webb, that would be a good place for Blacker.

The dreaded ‘rotation’ coming on already. That’ll backfire badly in Benetton. I’d probably rest Rowlands but that’s it.

mikey_dragon wrote:I think Roberts came away from Edinburgh with some credit. Two games in and the stats also back him up. If Dee goes, likely to Cardiff, I’d prefer a decent NWQ to come in. Cardiff will also be lurking for Rowlands and Nott in the coming seasons, that I can bet you on. I wish we had signed Joe Peard, he would still be better than Davies.

Scrum-half - well the first two options are good. I agree Dane Blacker looks good enough to be a starter. It would make sense for him to move on, it wouldn’t make sense for him to join us unless Gonzalo is gone - Lewis Jones is meh. Looks as though Ospreys need a decent 9 behind Webb, that would be a good place for Blacker.

Dee and Rowlands are out of contract this season.

The end of the 60 cap rule may well mean Rowlands goes back to England, as would an English club's valuation of him compared to how Pivac rates him (because Pivac is an idiot).

I think Pivac has finally seen the value in Rowlands, if he's fit then he starts. If Pivac has him as anything other than first choice then he's a bigger idiot than I initially thought.

mikey_dragon wrote:I think Pivac has finally seen the value in Rowlands, if he's fit then he starts. If Pivac has him as anything other than first choice then he's a bigger idiot than I initially thought.

It's more his salary valuation that is at odds with market realities (dependent upon whether the 60 cap rule stays or goes)

It's quiet in here.

I didn't get to watch it sadly, although the result was not unexpected for me. I was going to catch up when I got back from a gig, but read the score on social media and so gave it a swerve.

Not much else to post about here, with the weekly match threads running. There wouldn’t be much to post about it without those threads anyway . I wonder if there’ll be any additional Dragons in the Wales squad as of tomorrow? I think AOB is an outside bet, but his defence isn’t up to it - neither is Johnny McNicholl’s or Tom Rogers’, but you would be more inclined to bet on these two. Possibly Rio Dyer an outside bet too. It doesn’t seem like Nott, Wainwright and Moriarty have had enough game time, but Ross is more likely to walk back in anyway.

More pro-Ospreys and anti-Dragons bias at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/welsh - It makes me sick. Just look at the headlines, and then look at the language used in the Ospreys artcile compared to ours. You'd swear it was Dragons who got battered and were not far off shipping 50. Rubbish Ospreys got battered again. Fair play to Dragons who are far better than last year and did alright against the Lions.

Nothing on that link Mikey...says it's invalid?

It's just the BBC Wales Rugby home page, you can find both articles there.

mikey_dragon wrote:It's just the BBC Wales Rugby home page, you can find both articles there.

Ah ok, I can't see an Ospreys article but can see the plucky Dragons headline.

All that chat about backing it up at home, and we did play very positively in Joburg, and then we don’t back it up at home . Having said that we are still a lot better than the last two seasons. Even our average players (Dixon, Davies, Coleman) look good. Dai must be doing something, and it’s going well.

Yeah, yesterday was very frustrating. It did feel like we’ve undone our hard work getting three points last weekend. I am still pretty positive for the derbies, as we have some quality players to come back in. Some silly penalties given away yesterday like Keddie getting pinged for hands on the floor twice and a few other things.

Maybe it’s not the worst thing to have a bit of a reality check before the Cardiff game.

Good to have some injured players back, for our annual defeat to Cardiff. Looking forward to it, though I think I might struggle to watch it live on tv being away.

Ah scrap that, I can probably VPN back to watch on BBC.

Was a good game, with the unsurprising defeat happening too. I think Chris Kirwan, Dai Flanagan and others were correct to highlight our lack of control at times and us being a bit too spikey.

Both derbies were pretty good really.

I thought it was the better derby by far, as the other was littered with Scarlets mistakes and slow Rhys Webb. Cardiff are the most improved team of the Welsh Regions for me.

What was Poopie thinking with the YC? I don’t think he can ref a derby game again if he’s that pedantic against just the one team. Our back-row is quite interchangeable but we missed guys like Basham and Griffiths against the turnover Kings.

I think he had to yellow Roberts, but he should also have given us the penalty for the retaliation.

They also seemingly missed a knock on for the one Cardiff try.

But we were the victims of our own downfall anyway, with Hewitt blowing that 2 on one and with how we messed up the freekick at the end.

I can’t even call him by his real name on here . I think both should have been spoken to and then waved on, it’s a derby . Yellowing one and then doing fe/k all to the other player seems poor.

Yeah we had chances to score and didn’t. We also weren’t that physical, at least not as physical as we have been previously, it’s almost as if we don’t like playing in the cold and wet.
Whilst Hewitt blew the obvious 2 v 1 he was looking better; he looked like he was struggling a bit in South Africa.

Scarlets: Leigh Halfpenny; Johnny McNicholl, Joe Roberts, Scott Williams, Steff Evans; Rhys Patchell, Dane Blacker; Kemsley Mathias, Ken Owens (capt), WillGriff John, Vaea Fifita, Sam Lousi, Aaron Shingler, Dan Davis, Sione Kalamafoni.

Replacements: Shaun Evans, Steff Thomas, Sam Wainwright, Morgan Jones, Carwyn Tuipulotu, Kieran Hardy, Dan Jones, Jonathan Davies.

Dragons: Angus O'Brien; Rio Dyer, Steff Hughes (capt), Jack Dixon, Ashton Hewitt; JJ Hanrahan, Lewis Jones; Aki Seiuli, Bradley Roberts, Chris Coleman, Joe Davies, George Nott, Aaron Wainwright, Taine Basham, Ross Moriarty.

Replacements: Brodie Coghlan, Rob Evans, Luke Yendle, Matthew Screech, Ben Fry, Che Hope, Sam Davies, Sio Tomkinson.


Looks like one of the best 23's I've seen from Scarlets this season. Just a few more and they're full strength. Typically, they saved it for the Dragons. Should we go and beat them I expect Dwayne Peel is history.

Yeah, on the other side of the coin, I think we look pretty weak in places. Was hoping to get something from one of the games, but not very confident now. Happy Basham is back in. Not sure why Griffiths isn’t on the bench, given he’s fit. I suspect they’re being cautious, but he breaks just as easily in training, so they can’t really protect him too much.

We look weaker without Brown and Fairbrother (and Rowlands obviously), but not particularly worried about our front 5 versus the Scarlets. I still think Clark is better than Dixon.

Bloody rubbish from us against 14 men. Poor skills, execution, no game plan… and I’m now convinced Lewis Jones is worse than Tavis Knoyle.

I thought both halfbacks were poor. That second half was atrocious though.

I hateto intrude on private grief, but... that's a few time now that I've watched the Dragons and they keep geting into positions where they should win the game but somehow manage not to.
Similarly, they have a genuinely exciting back three but they don't seem to score that many tries through them.
Is it that the team have forgotten how to win matches?

Hopefully this time we’ve actually learnt from it, can’t see us winning our next game though (Bulls). Hopefully we get some players come back in, and Lewis Jones is out of the 23. I expect Gonzalo is available for selection.

Dean Ryan gone then?

formerly known as Sam wrote:Dean Ryan gone then?

Finally confirmed yeah. Must've been a handy pay out from the WRU.

RiscaGame wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Dean Ryan gone then?

Finally confirmed yeah. Must've been a handy pay out from the WRU.

They spent enough time negotiating it

Yeah, that was quite laughable really. I guess it's because he was on the board too.

Morning Dragons peeps.
I'm thinking of driving over the bridge for the Glasgow match on the 28th. I've never been to Newport before so if any of you have any advice re; which part of the ground, pubs near Dave Parade, accommodation, I'd be very grateful.
Thanks guys.

There's a new Mercure in the centre, which seems okay. A lot of people may prefer to stay in Cardiff and come in to Newport for the game, because Newport has a bit of character haha. A lot of the other hotels are probably just on the outskirts (near the Celtic Manor mostly).

If you're happy standing, the Compeed Terrace is the most atmospheric (providing you don't mind the he knocked it on song etc). The newest stand is the Bisley stand, but that's all seats.

There is an area around Newport Market with a few decent bars etc. When I had my friend visit to watch Newport County v Walsall, I took him to The Potters and the Dodger. The Potters would be 100m from the Mercure as well. The Dodger is one of the closest pubs to the ground (on the other side of the River to the City Centre).

If you're driving, I don't think any of the hotels in the centre have parking, so you would either park in Friars Walk or Kingsway. I would imagine Kingsway would work out the cheapest for an overnight park?

Mercure seems popular since it opened and has it's own bar. You'd also be a 30 second walk from Potters which is decent. Mercure is also right on Friars Walk so you'll be near the food court too. I'd avoid the bars in the ground as the service is the slowest I've ever experienced.

The Mercure isn't far from my office, we had our Christmas meal there, I was really impressed with the place. And the Potters couldn't be closer. The Murenger wouldn't be far away either, but then you're heading away from Rodney Parade a bit.

The Compeed terrace would be my recommendation too, there's more 'colour' there than elsewhere in the ground, although you can get that and also a seat by opting for the Compeed stand. The Compeed side of the ground is much better sheltered than the Bisley as well - if it rains, you will get wet there, unless you're sitting right at the back.

I see Griffiths is back… for the Bulls game. Ideal for an injury prone player to come back in against a big and physical team from South Africa. If he could have one season injury free though then he is probably a Wales starter.

I hadn't thought of that. Unless they're thinking more about his pace in the loose compared to their back row?

I'm really glad to see Gonzo back, and Fairbrother too, although I hope his head's right for it, you could understand if it wasn't.

I think I would've preferred to have started both. We have flogged Coleman a bit recently too and Lewis Jones is pretty erratic.

I hope Barrel is okay too, bless him.

Well lads thanks for the tips regarding visiting Dave Parade.
Tickets bought for the Compeed stand. Airbnb for an apartment round the corner from the ground.
Oh happy day.

If it wasn’t for Lewis Jones, Kieren Hardy would be the worst 9 in the world. It just so happens he’s second worst, thanks in part to Lewis Jones!

jimbopip wrote:Well lads thanks for the tips regarding visiting Dave Parade.
Tickets bought for the Compeed stand. Airbnb for an apartment round the corner from the ground.
Oh happy day.

Hope you enjoy it. I would’ve bought you a beer in the Dodger, if I was home.

I think yesterday shows that we still need more signings to be competitive. A frightening statistic that our props are the first and third most penalised in the league. Two new props and two locks, we might be more competitive and be able to win games like that. That’s assuming we also work on our discipline.

You can't fault the effort of the players, but you just can't defend successive games where we haven't scored at all in the second half.

I think it would have been slightly better if we had more players available. I've seen Bulls best Opsreys' scrum though and we're quite some way off that depsite our improvement on last season.

It's been a frustrating few games, because a win against Cardiff could well have given us the boost the Scarlets got from beating us. We're not as far behind the other three as we have been in previous seasons - but that doesn't count for much if we don't turn it into results.

We would always have lost the game on Friday, as the shortened turn arounds would always have caught up with us. I agree we should've beaten Cardiff and then that could've improved things. Just think we are concentrating a little too much on being physical and it's costing us a bit with conceding silly pens or not having cool heads sometimes when we are attacking.

Finally, back to winning ways

We really need to follow this up at home, Dai’s famous last words…