Still confused about Prydie?

What did Gatland and Prydie's coaches at Swansea/Ospreys see in him or was it some sort of freak decision from Gatland that he had a few caps? Did someone tell Gatland he was the next superkid or something?

I am not blaming the Ospreys because he was never a regular selection there and Walker and Dirksen seem to have overtaken him. Kristian Phillips has fallen off the radar completely at the Ospreys.

I guess the emergence of North put to bed any future considerations about Prydie.

Didn't he have a very nasty injury not long after his surprise call up which has hampered his dvelopment?

In that time we then saw the emergence of the likes of Walker Dirksen, North and Cuthbert.

From a Dragons POV I am excited about his signing and I think its a good move for him personally as he will (or should) get regular first team games.

I guess the emergence of North put to bed any future considerations about Prydie

Not really, players form will change over time, it is rarely a constant. Players will pick up injuries and develop. North is showing up very well at the moment but whether he will be just as outstanding for the next decade is an unknown. People raved about Hook when he burst onto the scene and the same with Biggar. They're struggling to get into the Welsh starting side at all at the minute.

He ruptured his cruciate ligaments in march last year and spent 8 months out with it.

Wales are lucky at the moment that they have several young talented wingers making it hard for anyone that spends time out injured to get back into the regional teams let alone the national one.

It is a good signing for the dragons who need a FB and Prydie needs more game time.

He was called into the squad when there was a heap of negative press, and the press then turned the heat off Gatland and onto the fact Wales were capping their youngest international in history. That said he played very well, and was unfortunate that the Ospreys had high quality in his position (Byrne, Bowe, Williams and an on form Walker at the time).

Also he has not exactly slipped off the radar, signed by the Dragons and scored 5 tries for the Under 20s in their Junior RWC warm up.

Losing Thomas and signing Prydie seems a sensible decision for the Dragons. Both very fast Fullbacks that like to Run.

Prydie notched up five tries last night vs Japan for the U20s.

great to hear prydie is back playing (5 tries!!). hopefully he can nail down a place and get game time at the dragons. he's as quick as martyn thomas but crucially is bigger than him. looked great for wales and was very unlucky to pick up a nasty injury.

idris wrote:What did Gatland and Prydie's coaches at Swansea/Ospreys see in him or was it some sort of freak decision from Gatland that he had a few caps? Did someone tell Gatland he was the next superkid or something?

I am not blaming the Ospreys because he was never a regular selection there and Walker and Dirksen seem to have overtaken him. Kristian Phillips has fallen off the radar completely at the Ospreys.

I guess the emergence of North put to bed any future considerations about Prydie.

The word was that Prydie could have played for Ireland through parentage, and the IRU made moves (shades of Shingler with Scotland) so Gatland stepped in, incredibly played him (with no experience at any level) for the full team , then worse still, dropped him like a hot potatoe even though he had a good series. I can still remember screaming at Hook to pass to Prydie with a certain maiden try in the offering, which of course would have made it even better. Then he had such a bad injury that he was out for nine months

Its hard to assess how good he really was when originally selected was more to "stop another nation obtaining his services" rather than based on his performance level, Mr G could have ruined what could have been very good career

We also had no depth in the wings then, Kristian Phillips also made the squad if i remember correctly

gowales wrote:We also had no depth in the wings then, Kristian Phillips also made the squad if i remember correctly

It is strength and depth and the current development in both for Wales that have made the difference here.

A few years back when Prydie was capped, we were looking to the future and looking to find players to play in the back three. A talented lad like Prydie or Phillips was a good selection by Gatland. Since then we have unearthed a number of other talented players around the same age.

Hopefully Prydie will play well at the Dragons and may even show enough skill to be picked ahead of lads around his age like Cuthbert, North, Halfpenny, Robinson, Liam Williams.

It will be great to see what he can do in the JWC this summer.