[solved]Dragons sign pair of young flyers

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/9705157.Dragons_sign_pair_of_young_flyers/Dragons sign pair of young flyers

NEWPORT Gwent Dragons have signed two Wales-capped young guns to bolster their back line for next season.

Full back/wing Tom Prydie, 20, joins from the Ospreys and full back Dan Evans, 23, also makes the move east from the Scarlets.

Their recruitment comes just a week after the Leinster game when the Dragons bade farewell to back three players Aled Brew and Martyn Thomas.

Both players have plenty of potential and are Wales caps, but have had limited opportunities.

Prydie has been on loan with London Wasps since January, making seven appearances for the Aviva Premiership side. He is a regular member of the Wales Sevens side and has already won four Wales caps. He became the youngest player to play for Wales when he faced Italy in the 2010 Six Nations aged 18 years and 25 days, and then became Wales’ youngest try-scorer when he touched down against South Africa three months later.


Prydie has recently been named in Danny Wilson’s Wales Under 20 squad for the Junior World Championships in South Africa this summer, alongside Dragons Jon Evans, Jack Dixon and Ieuan Jones.

He has signed from the Ospreys where he made his debut at the age of 17 years and 292 days. That came as a second-half replacement in their Heineken Cup match against Viadana in December 2009, an appearance that made him the youngest player in Heineken Cup history. On his move to Rodney Parade, he said: “I’m really looking forward to the new challenge that signing with the Dragons presents.

“I’ve worked with Darren (coach Darren Edwards) before and felt I learned a lot from the time I spent with him. I really enjoyed the experience so am looking forward to getting involved in a new environment down at the Dragons next season.

“This season has felt a bit stop start, particularly at the beginning, so it will be great to have a fresh start and a bit of consistency. “There is a lot of potential at the Dragons and hopefully we can be very competitive next season.”

Evans rose through the ranks at the Scarlets and has been a feature in the squad over the past three seasons. He made 14 appearances for the region this season, including home and away games against the Dragons. He won two caps on Wales’ 2009 North America tour, making his debut in the 32-23 win over Canada, but has been overlooked since.

On his move to the Dragons, he said: “I’m really looking forward to it. It’s exciting to be joining a squad with the amount of young talent that the Dragons have at the moment. I’m eager to press for some more game time and hopefully help push for a successful season.”

Dragons director of rugby Robert Beale was delighted with the signings, saying: “I’m obviously really happy that both of these young players have decided to join us here at the Dragons. “They both show a lot of promise and I am looking forward to working with them over the coming seasons.”


Glad this has been officially announced. Now some forwards please

Fantastic news. Will be good to see Prydie rebuilding his career, yet again the Dragons investing in discarded Welsh players. They've done very well with Brew and Charts. Fingers crossed for these lads.

I must admit I've not seen much of Evans but Prydie has impressed me with what I've seen. He's a big bloke too, much bigger than Martyn Thoms but quick too so that will bolster our backline.

To be honest, the Dragons lost so many players to injury last season I can barely remember who we have and what we need

To be honest I think that you'll be impressed with Evans, providing he is given game time. He is a very good attacking player, and probably the closest thing you'll find as a replacement for tovey (fullback/wing/fly half).

All our players get game time - can't afford to bubble wrap anyone

munkian wrote:All our players get game time - can't afford to bubble wrap anyone

Yeah but you can decide that they had a howler and not play them too often, just ask Matthew Jones.

*Shudder*

It's got to be a good thing for a region to sign 2 young Welsh players and ensure they get plenty of time on the field.

Blues take note.

Very good signing in Prydie, Evans I don'y know much about. Good replacement for Thomas though, big, strong and quick and can cover wing also. Just need to concentrate on finding some forwards now as The Dragons have now got a very dangerous starting back line imo, even with Brew gone.

I think we need a Lock, hooker and tight head/loose head

Does anyone know how Gus has been getting on at hooker ?

Also, is Poole recovering ? I know his contract depends on his rehab.

Good news.
I always liked the look of Evans, great boot on him and looks a threat going forward. I was shocked to see him playing in the prem a lot this season.

Prydie has a lot to prove after getting for caps for Wales without really proving himself. I can't believe he's still only 20. Good news that he's 6ft 4" . So he will now be our biggest back. We lack size in the backline and with Brew going we needed to strengthen.

Any news on who the forwards we are targeting are?

Also .. open side. Lewis Evans isn't a 7. Thomas has disappeared. Waters has fallen out with D.Edwards (apparently) and that leaves us playing groves out if position. Why hasn't Nash been given a chance? We need a leader on the pitch, he's an out n out 7 and constantly playes well for keys.

Pretty pacy wingers now with Chav and Prydie...

Youngguns, the only concern I have about Dan Evans is his inconsistency. He can be brilliant one minute then lose concentration and do something stupid the next. Maybe getting regular first-team rugby will be the making of him because clearly he's a talented player.

doctornickolas wrote:It's got to be a good thing for a region to sign 2 young Welsh players and ensure they get plenty of time on the field.

Blues take note.

Wales U20 119-7 Japan U20:

Tom Prydie (Ospreys); Harry Robinson (Blues), Jack Dixon (Dragons), Owen Williams (Scarlets), Luke Morgan (Ospreys); Sam Davies (Ospreys), Jonathan Evans (Dragons); Rob Evans (Scarlets), Kirby Myhill (Scarlets), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Cory Hill (capt, Blues), Matthew Screech (Blues), Luke Hamilton (Blues), Daniel Thomas (Scarlets), Dan Baker (Ospreys).

Replacements: Darran Harris (Blues), Jamie Sollis (Dragons), Gareth Thomas (Carmarthen Quins), WillGriff John (Blues), Rhodri Hughes (Ospreys), Jack Jones (Ospreys), Reuben Tucker (Ospreys), Ieuan Jones (Dragons), Ellis Jenkins (Blues), Rhodri Williams (Scarlets), Matthew Morgan (Ospreys), Thomas Pascoe (Blues), Cory Allen (Blues), Iolo Evans (Scarlets), Ross Jones (Ospreys).

Tom Prydie (Dragons); 5 tries

Cardiff Dave I think the point was stop signing shoite overseas players and use the young talent you have avaliable. And stop nicking ours

Its great news for us and the players as individuals BUT we still need to sort our front row out oh and our away form.

The old adage of forwards win games backs just decide by how many.

Our home form hasn't been great recently, either!

Yeah fair one LP on the bright side next season has to be better (I hope)

munkian wrote:Tom Prydie (Dragons); 5 tries

Cardiff Dave I think the point was stop signing shoite overseas players and use the young talent you have avaliable. And stop nicking ours

Cardiff Blues have signed 3 overseas front row players which I guess is a reflection of what there is available in this area on the home front. I don't know who else they have considered, but they need stability up front asap otherwise Tovey will be on the back foot, game after game next season and i'm not convinced the 3 referred to will be able to provide this. Wait and see I suppose.

Looking back over the season, there have been games where our handling and passing out of the tackle has been brilliant, forwards and backs, but it hasn't led to tries. If we can take those chances next season, there's plenty of cause for optimism - although we need to be stronger in the tight and hopefully we'll see some signings there.

LP,

That is our main area of weakness and concern for me. I see we are being linked with Manu but for me he's just another over rated and over the hil foreigner.

Surely there have to be some genuine (if raw) talented front rowers in the Gwent area.

You'd think so, wouldn't you?

Jenkins has urged the Dragons not to sign an overseas fly half and to use Robbling and Jones as he sees a lot of potential in them.

Oh, theres a front rower playing well for Cross Keys at the moment but I forget his name.

Which Jenkins?

munkian wrote:Oh, theres a front rower playing well for Cross Keys at the moment but I forget his name.

Marc Jones is a decent tight head who I think is more promising than Nathan Buck. Plus we should sign up the hooker Gerwyn Price in my opinion.

Gerwyn Price is off to the Blues, isn't he?

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Which Jenkins?

The Jenkins

Really don't know why the dragons haven't signed up G Price! Always gets a good review and were not exactly blessed with hookers. Also Nash really deserves a chance at 7. We will struggle with Lewis Evans at open side. He's a 6/8 never a 7.

Any news on who the lock we are chasing is?

Eh? Only Jabba, Parry, Under20s Hooker Jamie Sollis and the newly converted battering ram that is Hugh Gustafson - we've released Buckley because he couldn't even get in the squad and presumably we were giving Burner every chance to recover from his injury?

I'd say Lewis is a 6.5, less of a 6 than Lydiate but definately more a six than a seven. Lord knows what Jevon Groves is, while we're at it. Nash has already played for the Dragons iirc and didn't really make an impact, he'd need a lot of time out of the game to work on conditioning, as Darren Waters had to have.

We'll learn a lot about who can step up on August 4th (shaping up to be a great day...): http://newportgwentdragons.com/newsarticle.aspx?n=21328

(Have that, Casartelli, Jimmy Moz et al)

stone motif - Burner has retired due to his injury

dragon999 wrote:stone motif - Burner has retired due to his injury

Hence why I said 'were', not 'are'...

I think Evans can (and has) do a job at 7, he,s not the out n out fetcher or flyer but if we could put out Lydiate Faletau and EVans week in week out I would be happy.

i was very impressed with darren waters at the end of last season. think he'll have a big season next season. dan hodges of cross keys has impressed me too everytime i've seen him play. he would be worth taking a punt on as a "work in progress" good locks are expensive to buy in these days, and he's a local lad on your door step. not sure about marc jones isn't he 30ish now? i know prop get better as they get older. but he'd need a lot of conditioning to make it at regional rugby. with burns and willis retiring, you'd think it would open up a space for gerwyn price too.

Sounds like a good event Stone Motif - be interesting to see the Scarlets do something like that as there's quite a bit of talent in the region.