Dragons Season Thread - 2019/20 aka Year 1 of the new 5 Year Plan

[RiscaGame]

First topic message reminder :

Because it seemingly hit his head. I understand why he did it, as they were slowing us down a fair bit and not getting penalised, but it needs to be a few more angles than the clip I have seen.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Wales Online reporting we're close to signing Will Rowlands. I'll believe it when I see it, but that would improve us no end.

[PhilBB]

To me, it still looks a team completely reliant on Williams and Davies at half back.

Lose one or both of those and I think that House of Cards comes crashing down

[PhilBB]

Wales Online reporting we're close to signing Will Rowlands. I'll believe it when I see it, but that would improve us no end.

Chris Kirwan's tweet is interesting

[Luckless Pedestrian]

I honestly thought the trail had gone cold on that.

[PhilBB]

Wasps don't agree with Mark Orders either:

https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/rugby/will-rowlands-wales-rugby-news-19097319

[Luckless Pedestrian]

That would seem to be that:

https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/18791344.wales-lock-will-rowlands-not-heading-dragons---wasps/

[RiscaGame]

To me, it still looks a team completely reliant on Williams and Davies at half back.

Lose one or both of those and I think that House of Cards comes crashing down

Totally. Davies more so though. You can see that, from Friday. Davies had a bit of a mare off the tee, yet Lewis hardly had a sniff of game time again.

[mikey_dragon]

For months Robin Davey has been saying Rowlands to Dragons is a done deal, I just figured it would be the 20/21 season. There's no requirement for Rowlands to join sooner and he seems to be enjoying his rugby at Wasps. If they worked it out so he can join sooner then great, Blackett probably just dismissing it so it doesn't become a distraction.

[mikey_dragon]

To me, it still looks a team completely reliant on Williams and Davies at half back.

Lose one or both of those and I think that House of Cards comes crashing down

Totally. Davies more so though. You can see that, from Friday. Davies had a bit of a mare off the tee, yet Lewis hardly had a sniff of game time again.

I've been saying it since not long after he joined, Josh Lewis isn't good enough. As erratic as our halfbacks can be, they're 10 times better than what's on the bench. Still, there's plenty of WQ fly-halves out there, and a certain scrum half who is currently without a club...

[mikey_dragon]

I honestly thought the trail had gone cold on that.

Even if we did get him, it would just lead to more hate aimed at us as well as Rowlands. miaow has already been typing a load of BS about him on another thread.

[formerly known as Sam]

For months Robin Davey has been saying Rowlands to Dragons is a done deal, I just figured it would be the 20/21 season. There's no requirement for Rowlands to join sooner and he seems to be enjoying his rugby at Wasps. If they worked it out so he can join sooner then great, Blackett probably just dismissing it so it doesn't become a distraction.

I think he has a contract until next summer so 21/22 would be his first season at Dragons if there's a done deal. He's in good form at the minute so I doubt Wasps will let him go early. They are certainly lacking any natural replacement for him if he did go in the short term.

[RiscaGame]

For months Robin Davey has been saying Rowlands to Dragons is a done deal, I just figured it would be the 20/21 season. There's no requirement for Rowlands to join sooner and he seems to be enjoying his rugby at Wasps. If they worked it out so he can join sooner then great, Blackett probably just dismissing it so it doesn't become a distraction.

Robin needs to stay relevant and try to distract Twitter from his and his golf course’s “alternative” views. There’s no real news off him ever. The only thing Lyn the Lyp and Dorian’s dad did properly during their tenure, was hammer him on away flights.

[PhilBB]

There was a theory that Davey was being used as a patsy by the Dragons.

I think that theory has some merit.

[RiscaGame]

I would say so.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Interesting bonus fixture tomorrow. It's being streamed on the Dragons' and the Scarlets' Facebook and YouTube channels, kick-off at midday.

Dragons XV: D Howells; O Jenkins, J Thomas, A Owen, J Rosser; J Lewis, L Baldwin; C Maguire, E Shipp, L Fairbrother, B Carter, J Maksymiw, H Taylor (captain), B Fry, T Basham. Replacements: R Lawrence, J Reynolds, C Coleman, M Williams, G Young, D Babos, W Reed, R Dyer.

Scarlets: T Prydie; R Conbeer, T Morgan, P Asquith, A Brew; A O’Brien, D Blacker; R Evans, M Jones, J Sebastian, T Ratuva, M Jones, E Kennedy, J Morgan (captain), U Cassiem. Replacements: T Davies, S Evans, D Evans, K Mathias, W Kruger, H O’Connor, J Price, T Phillips, J Miles, D Davies, C Tuipulotu, W Homer, S Costelow, J Roberts, I Nicholas.

Lots of former Dragons behind the scrum for the Scarlets.

EDIT: just noticed the Scarlets have a 15-man bench!

[RiscaGame]

Interesting side from us. Nice to see Babos involved. Interesting to see Shipp clearly is fit then too. I am not sure I would be playing Basham in this game, but I guess we may not have many other options. Clearly Griffiths isn't quite ready, but somebody like Benjamin could've played?

Kick off at Midday doesn't help me though. Unless I have a surprise cancellation.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Chris Kirwan mentioned a number of players who could have been selected, including Lennon Greggains who I'd forgotten all about.

I take my lunch between 1 and 2, so it's not so bad for me!

[RiscaGame]

I haven't seen what he has said yet. I will look now, thanks. I forgot about him too. I only remembered about Benjamin, as he gets mentioned by what I assume is a friend, every time Dragons release their team. He made a good point on how a few other players could've been involved too, like Dixon and Lewis Evans.

I have been blessed with a cancellation anyway.

[RiscaGame]

Interesting to read this, on his SWA article.

Go to the Dragons' website and you will notice a new inclusion on the pen pics of the management team – Patrick Marr, mental skills and leadership coach.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

That's such an important part of the game, I was going to say these days, but it's always been important, just valued more now maybe.

[RiscaGame]

Yeah, definitely.

[mikey_dragon]

Did we actually sign Joe Thomas?

[RiscaGame]

Did we actually sign Joe Thomas?

Trial

[RiscaGame]

Awful start for Josh Lewis. To miss touch that badly, is shocking.

Sadly, off for a HIA now, as well. However, I am looking forward to seeing how Reed goes.

[RiscaGame]

Now Reed does the same.

[mikey_dragon]

Well worked try, if it gets awarded. Interesting to note that the lock forward Carter seems to have overtaken the others from the academy.

Ah, it was awarded then disallowed.

[Guest]

A healthy scoreline for the Scarlets. Didn't see the game what was it like? Decent standard or did it look like a training session?

[RiscaGame]

I’m not sure why your post was complained about?

Very poor game. Tbh, you’d have expected Scarlets to be stronger, given the two sides selected, but Dragons didn’t help themselves with the silly mistakes like the three missed penalty kicks to touch. Was a poor game though. I’m not really sure what either have taken from it, bar conditioning. I guess Dean Ryan has another idea of who won’t make the grade. I would’ve preferred him to play Dixon etc along with a few youngsters.

[mikey_dragon]

A few of those players will be playing on the international weekends, particularly in the front 5 for us - so we can take that this period won’t be a good one for Dragons. I always thought Scarlets had the slightly better team up front but they significantly upped the tempo. Good run out for them. Tex won’t be available now though but Rob Evans probably will be.

[RiscaGame]

Front 5 won’t, unless there are injuries. First choice will be

Harris/Bateman, Hibbard, Jarvis/loose head that isn’t playing, Screech, Davies.

[mikey_dragon]

I figured they would come back in - but Joe M, Coleman, Williams will be there covering. Jarvis is likely to get injured, which leaves us with Coleman... Unless one of Harris or Bateman swaps sides (which they can and have done). Our 9, 10, 12 is very important - but the cover for them is a potential match loser.

I would start with Shipp btw, with Hibbard on the bench.

[RiscaGame]

Most would start Shipp, but I’m just imaging what Ryan will do, given his selections thus far.

[mikey_dragon]

Also we seen yesterday that our back 3 players are pretty good, but we already knew that. Josh Reynolds is good too and hopefully will be in the 23 - which would give the option of switching Bateman to TH. Interested to see if Aneurin Owen can make the step up as well. Given the make-up of the squad now all I can say is I’m thankful for Dr Roberts.

[Guest]

I’m not sure why your post was complained about?

Very poor game. Tbh, you’d have expected Scarlets to be stronger, given the two sides selected, but Dragons didn’t help themselves with the silly mistakes like the three missed penalty kicks to touch. Was a poor game though. I’m not really sure what either have taken from it, bar conditioning. I guess Dean Ryan has another idea of who won’t make the grade. I would’ve preferred him to play Dixon etc along with a few youngsters.

Welcome to 606, where that question is par for the course. Pathetic really.

Makes sense it was poor given there's nothing riding on it.

[mikey_dragon]

Beyond embarrassing for Hibbard...

[RiscaGame]

Have to wonder what Shipp makes of it. Rhys Lawrence too, as he technically got released to retain him.

[Guest]

What did Hibbard do

[PhilBB]

What did Hibbard do

That's a superb question.

His agent, however, is a genius. Getting three years out of Jackman.

And, let's be honest, Jackman is no fool. Right? He must have known how good a hooker Hibbard was when he offered him that three year deal.

Jackman, suggested for the job by Warren Gatland.

Choo Choo.

[mikey_dragon]

Have to wonder what Shipp makes of it. Rhys Lawrence too, as he technically got released to retain him.

What have got shot of both Hibbard and Lawrence, but even I couldn’t for-see Hibbard being this bad.


A word on Griffths, he’s just awesome isn’t he. Really hope he has better luck with injuries.

[mikey_dragon]

In the match against Ulster, Griffiths' first start since March, he made 23 tackles (2nd highest in league), 4 offloads (highest in league), 4 turnovers won (highest in league).

We'll need him against Munster, but we are also without 2 LH's so I doubt it will count for much anyway. Can't see us getting close based on recent form and haven't yet decided if I want to bring myself to watch the garbage we're putting on display.

[Guest]

What did Hibbard do

That's a superb question.

His agent, however, is a genius. Getting three years out of Jackman.

And, let's be honest, Jackman is no fool. Right? He must have known how good a hooker Hibbard was when he offered him that three year deal.

Jackman, suggested for the job by Warren Gatland.

Choo Choo.

So you don't know. Ok.

[RiscaGame]

Bit of a strange team for tomorrow. I don’t get why we are starting Hibbard and Fairbrother. Don’t get Josh Lewis at 15 either. I feel a bit for Basham too.

[mikey_dragon]

Fairbrother is solid but agree on Hibbard. Lewis making the 23 let alone the 15 jersey is a surprise.

[RiscaGame]

Dragons next two fixtures are off, due to 7 COVID cases. Hope all 7 recover as well as Jamie Roberts seemingly has. Thankfully there were no cases from Munster, who we played last weekend.

[mikey_dragon]

Yikes, this year/season gets worse and worse. I was happy about playing Connacht at home, as our fixture list has been difficult so far. I wonder how all 7 and just Dragons boys got that.

[mikey_dragon]

We must be a bit rusty and we’re up against our wounded Italian bogey team next.

[RiscaGame]

It has flown a little under the radar, this game. Because of the break and the return to play schedule we had, I wasn’t sure when we were playing again and thought we had another weekend to go.

Be interesting to see who we pick. It’s very annoying now they don’t have to announce the 23 until the day before too, as tomorrow I’ll be more concerned about getting my Pivac out banner ready

[RiscaGame]

Ahhhh good. We are still playing Hibbard over Shipp.

I normally want Basham starting, but like our bigger backrow tomorrow out there. I guess that’s why Hibbard is starting too, as Dean is probably relying on trying to have parity in the scrum and pack as a whole with physicality and then players like Basham, Shipp and Maguire could come on and hopefully if the game breaks up, we can use them more as more dynamic players. Hopefully Rosser will look sharp off the bench too.

[mikey_dragon]

Shocking decisions being made where we had the chance to kick for touch and press for the fourth try, twice, but opted to kick at goal and both were missed. We played loosely in the dying minutes trying to get that try, and Benetton end up scoring - bloody awful attempt at a tackle from Lewis.

[RiscaGame]

I’m really not sure why we are trusting Davies to kick, tbh. Especially playing Lewis as we are, at the minute.

He’s a good player Sam, but his kicking issues can’t keep getting ignored.

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