I MAKE my second trip of the week to Llanelli tomorrow evening, although I don't think my reception will be quite as warm when we run out at Parc y Scarlets.

It's been another busy week both on the training field and off it with preparations for the Dragons' first Welsh derby of the season while our Life Education Wales workshops have started up again at Lliswerry and Newport High Schools.

However, there was still time to head west yesterday evening for an event as part of mine and Ashley Smith's beneficiary year.

Wales and Lions centre Jonathan Davies and his younger brother James 'Cubby Boi', a member of the Team GB 7s squad that won Olympic silver, were kind enough to agree to hold a dinner at Sosban Restaurant in Llanelli.

It is nice for these guys to give up their time to help us out by having a testimonial event down west. I suppose that it is what is good about rugby whether it be Rhys Thomas and Ash coaching at NHSOB or players doing favours for each other off the field at regional level, like Ryan Jones and Sam Warburton coming to our final benefit at Celtic Manor on Saturday, October 29.

Ash and I were really grateful to the Davies' for giving up their time, although I won't be giving their side an inch on the pitch tomorrow!

The Scarlets haven't made the best of starts to the season but have shown moments of quality and go into the derby on the back of wins against Connacht and Treviso.

They might be leaving out Jon Davies and his Wales teammate Jake Ball but still have dangerous players and talismen in 'Cubby' and Liam Williams.

However, we do have our own and you know that other teams look at our team sheet with the knowledge that they will be facing a real threat in defence with the likes of Cuddy and attack in Ollie Griffiths and Hallam Amos.

Obviously last week's game against Glasgow was a frustrating one and as I said live on the BBC after the 26-17 loss I am starting to sound like a broken record because we keep missing chances.

But at the start of the second half we were really at it and it was brilliant to go into a 17-16 lead thanks to Sam Hobbs try from a patient build-up and then a moment of genius from Hallam to set up Jack Dixon's score.

His offload was genuinely world class and the sort of thing that will make him a quality international player for years to come.

Those sorts of things give a real lift to the whole squad it's great to have a player like him in the team – people talk Tom James being the in-form left wing in Wales, and he has made a good start to the season with Cardiff Blues, but I think it's Hallam.

Everyone talked about how we would miss Taulupe Faletau and it is true that he has been a massive loss to the pack, although number eight Ed Jackson has probably been our most consistent performer so far this season.

But to have a player like Hallam in our side gives everyone a real boost; he is working hard on certain parts of his game but definitely has that X-factor.

We just need to make sure we give him opportunities in time and space because we can't just expect to fling him the ball for him to create something out of nothing.

Not only is Hallam a top quality player but he is a down to earth bloke, although I must say that not even he could pull off the Hawaiian shirt he was wearing when he popped into the Lamb the other week when meeting a few of his old Monmouth School mates!

But the key for us at the Dragons is to get a nice blend to the side and one of TRT's favourite phrases comes to mind – we need piano pushers as well as piano players.

That will be the case out in Llanelli and if all 15 players put in a big performance and do their jobs then there's no reason why we can't get a win to improve our frustratingly bad record against the Scarlets.