Dragons Pre & post Turner

Slow day in work so I thought I'd try being a statto. Not sure if any Dragons fans are on here.. but I thought I would look at some stats in terms of what Darren Edwards has produced since taking over. I used the Sale Away game as the start point, due to Paul Turner not being there however that maybe debatable as the pre match work my have already been done by him. Anyway here's what I found. (stats include ALL games not just ML).

P Turner - 19 games in charge

Wins = 6
Draw = 0
Lost = 13
BP W = 0
BP L = 4
Total points = 28

Tries scored = 25

D Edwards - 14 games in charge

Wins = 7
Draw = 1
Lost = 6
BP W = 3
BP L = 2
Total points = 35

Tries scored = 37

What I found pleasing is the fact that we have scored 12 more tries in 5 games less under Edwards, which does match his attack minded philosophy. This can be persumed a tad misleading due to the latter games being played in warmer weather / harder grounds. Also the HC campaign was over and we could argue it's easier to score tries in the ML than the HC.

Some pleasing sats for us Dragons fans though going into next season. Any thoughts on how we may fair? Or what you're most looking forward to?

Not a Dragons fan, but here's my take anyway. I would say the try scoring difference is more significant than you have suggested. Under Turner it was about 1.3 tries per match, but under Edwards, they scored just over 2.6 tries per match. Being roughly double, that must imply that they are attacking more effectively. Although the HC and softer grounds would have been a factor early in the season, games at the end of the season in the ML are likely to be tighter than earlier in the year as everyone tries to secure a play-off place. Therefore I would suggest that try scoring statistic, when combined with a win percentage of 50% against 31.6% under Turner is indicative of an improvement.

Schro

Thanks for expanding on those stats. Yes I definitely think there has been an improvement. 2 of those matches under Edwards were the last minute drop goal by Pienaar in Ulster and the away draw in glasgow again, conceded in the last minute. So they could have looked even more impressive.
I'm conscious of having false hope though due to the expectation of how this season was meant to play out. Turner had done a reasonable job last season, but it maybe coincidence that it was last year Edwards joined as backs coach. I did hear that pre-season was a mess at RP and Edwards is looking to correct that this time around.

Obviously having a new coach gives a team a boost, so there is no guarantee that things will continue in that vein. On the other hand, they should start next season with confidence from their form in the second half of this season, and confidence makes a huge difference to teams.

Two things will have an effect on how next season goes for the Dragons, continuing form and the world cup.
Last season Dragons were the third best Welsh region and i fully expected them to kick on and challenge the blues and the Ospreys for their places, but it never happened.
Can Edwards rectify that?
The World cup will have an effect, especially as there appears to be more players now getting noticed by Gatland, how they fare is also a factor.

ospreylian:

I pretty much said the same as your last comment on the Dragons 606 site on Monday, the Dragons may go backwards next year (in terms of the ML) with call up's to the AI and the 6N. They may have to strenghten their squad but they could lose the continuity they had this year.

The good side of the Dragons players getting recognition will mean less of a burdon on the other regions, we need all the regions to supply players to the national squad.

as a fan happy with the way we are playing, still think we need a hard edge to our game as we will get found out at higher levels (neither the blues or the ospreys have played well in the latter half of the season) not happy with our recruitment for next season after being promised two big hitters thus far we have signed a championship prop and tom brown

I feel the Dragons are the only region to really benefit from continuity throughout the season.

They really peaked at the right time this season, putting away the Blues and Os.

There's probably a bit of a "honeymoon" period going on at the moment so it will be interesting to see what they can do once the effect of having a new coach wears off.

Players seem to be hitting form at exactly the right time too (Falatau and Brew spring to mind).

All of this against a backdrop of 2 other regions who are really not benefiting from any continuity and dipping at exactly the wrong part of the season.

I think the fans should be very happy with the way they've ended the season.

Certainly the way the season ended for both the Dragons and the Scarlets, both sets of fans will be happy. Also the fact that the Dragons did the supposedly "two big regions" will have given them some hope too.

But just a word of caution, was it not very similar to last year? I tipped the Dragons to make the top four on the basis of their finish and the Sc arlets to really challenge.
Right on one only.

Did you really think the Scarlets were going to challenge for this season Ospreylian? I have to confess I didn't. I mean we had to be saved by the Blues just to get into the Heineken. I thought that if we managed to turn out LBP into some wins we'd definitely be mid table - never dreamed we'd be 1 point off the play offs though!

I agree with you though that I also had high expectations of the Dragons after the end of last season. I hope now they can definitely take this seasons form into next season. They've got a good spirit building down there now, I'm happy to see it, I hope that it only continues to grow. It's what Welsh rugby needs.