English clubs target Steffan Jones (From South Wales Argus)
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English clubs target Steffan Jones
6:00am Wednesday 9th January 2013 in Sport
By Chris Kirwan
ON THE MOVE? Dragons outside half Steffan Jones
FLY-HALF Steffan Jones will make his first start for Newport Gwent Dragons in two months in Bayonne tomorrow evening amid talk of him leaving the region for England.
The 22-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and is attracting interest from a number of clubs over the border.
The Argus understands that London Welsh have been monitoring the Bargoed product, potentially with view to a loan move, after he fell out of favour with the Dragons.
He has fallen down the pecking order with Dan Evans, who has impressed following his move from full-back to fly-half, and Lewis Robling picked ahead of him. Despite Evans being out with an ankle problem, Jones was not involved against Connacht last weekend with centre Ashley Smith acting as the back-up 10.
Jones has not played for the region since the LV= Cup defeat at Bath on November 10 while his last start in a frontline competition was the loss to the Scarlets on October 5.
However, he will be given the start in the south of France tomorrow and has been urged to grasp his chance after a frustrating spell on the sidelines.
“Steffan is a talented 10 and it’s up to him to respond to the chance that is coming his way in Bayonne,” said head coach Darren Edwards.
“I know he has been desperate to play and I look forward to seeing how he goes out there. If he responds to the challenge then he will keep his place.”
London Welsh, who are exceeding expectations by sitting 10 points clear of the Aviva Premiership relegation spot, currently have three fly-halves on their books – Gavin Henson, Gordon Ross and Ryan Davies.
This time last year the Dragons let fly-half Matthew Jones go so that he could join Bristol and last week the region released Joe Bedford from his contract early with the scrum-half penning a deal with Doncaster.
But the chances of Jones, who has been getting game time with Cross Keys in the last month, being released would appear slim given that Evans and Robling are the only other recognised 10s at Rodney Parade.
Comments(14)
broadsworddan
says...
12:00pm Wed 9 Jan 13
broadsworddan
says...
12:01pm Wed 9 Jan 13
rhinestine
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12:14pm Wed 9 Jan 13
kalwales@hotmail.com
says...
12:57pm Wed 9 Jan 13
portforever
says...
2:17pm Wed 9 Jan 13
number12
says...
4:42pm Wed 9 Jan 13
rhinestine wrote:and neither is Tovey....have you seen him play for Blues recently......http:/
I think Tovey will be back soon....... Jones is not the answer, neither is robling......
/www.specsavers.co.u
k/
number12
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4:46pm Wed 9 Jan 13
portforever
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5:35pm Wed 9 Jan 13
Euwan Usami
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6:44pm Wed 9 Jan 13
number12 wrote:Either you only read the headline or you don't know too much about the teams in the Aviva. ;)
if he does go to an englsh side I can't imagine it being an aviva premiership side
Hero Mutant Cowboys
says...
7:08pm Wed 9 Jan 13
portforever wrote:2Super regions....isn't that what Scotland tried? And look at them. If it wasn't for Italy they would have a trophy cupboard full of wooden spoons. I feel sorry for steffan and robling. Both men are not being coached properly. Lewis is not a 10 he's a 12, Jones is young skillful and talented but he needs game time in the pro12 and good coaching not being neglected and then called upon to do a job at a tough game in France after another shocker from Robling at 10. What's the big plan DE?!
one thing for sure if he gets chance to leave he will, do him good to get away and start again . good luck to him. see eddie butler has been in the press saying about 2 super regions and 1 development region .dragons be over then and we can go back to watching the port..
Robert Shillabeer
says...
8:35pm Wed 9 Jan 13
Hero Mutant Cowboys wrote:Your probably right about the young lads, they both need to. Get much more experience, not everyone can make the jump up so young. But, to go to England won't do them any good either. He is being managed quite well by both the Dragons and Cross Keys and not pushed into things to fast but tried out as often as possible to see where he is in his development. Eddie Butler is a media man now and only does what is decided by the media editors to simply keep the pot boiling to sell newspapers not tell the truth as most people don't care about the truth anyway, just gossip.
portforever wrote:2Super regions....isn't that what Scotland tried? And look at them. If it wasn't for Italy they would have a trophy cupboard full of wooden spoons. I feel sorry for steffan and robling. Both men are not being coached properly. Lewis is not a 10 he's a 12, Jones is young skillful and talented but he needs game time in the pro12 and good coaching not being neglected and then called upon to do a job at a tough game in France after another shocker from Robling at 10. What's the big plan DE?!
one thing for sure if he gets chance to leave he will, do him good to get away and start again . good luck to him. see eddie butler has been in the press saying about 2 super regions and 1 development region .dragons be over then and we can go back to watching the port..
emlynkide
says...
10:18pm Wed 9 Jan 13
Robert Shillabeer
says...
11:50pm Wed 9 Jan 13
emlynkide wrote:Glad you enjoy them, will keep doing it until he'll freezes over. There are some very disloyal supporters around who seem to revert to calling me names like DEs alto ego and don't seem to understand how Welsh and Irish rugby was created and set up all those years ago. Maybe they will look things up on the Internet, surprising what info you can find on there you know.
dont take any notice of butler, he's alway's been against the dragons because they didnt play out of pontypool, and with all this tosh about droping the dragons he's lapping it up. by the way rob. keep winding them up i cant wait to read these posts every night
rhinestine says...
10:20am Wed 9 Jan 13