FROM Bargoed possibly to Bilbao, it's been a remarkable season for Phil Price.

When the loosehead prop was out of favour at the Dragons and plying his trade with the Bulls in the Principality Premiership, the 29-year-old must have wondered what the future held given that his contract expired this summer.

As it happens, an injury blow suffered in the Six Nations at the Aviva Stadium helped what has been a remarkable turnaround and he is now chasing the double.

Price was signed on loan by the Scarlets in January to cover for Wales internationals Rob Evans and Wyn Jones with the prop having the chance to earn a full-time deal in Llanelli.

He did that and when Jones suffered a season-ending hamstring injury at the Aviva Stadium, the Dragons man climbed the pecking order.

Price has made six appearances so far and is now registered in their Champions Cup squad, backing up Rob Evans and Dylan Evans with a last-four date with Leinster looming.

The Bridgend native has gone from the despair of being frozen out at Rodney Parade – making just two substitute appearances in September – to being part of a team looking to defend their Guinness PRO14 title and upset the odds in Europe.

He deserves it.

Price may not be regarded as a Dragons legend but he has played a major role at Rodney Parade since making his debut in 2009.

His tally of 159 appearances is bettered by just five players - Lewis Evans (209), Steve Jones (180), Adam Black (163), Jason Tovey (163) and Ashley Smith (161).

Price has had spells when his form has caught the eye of the international management and he was selected for the Probables versus Possibles trial before the South Africa tour in 2014.

But primarily he has been a good clubman and after devoting nearly a decade to the Dragons, he deserves a warm reception from the Rodney Parade faithful that make their way to Cardiff for this month's season finale at Judgement Day… and the new Scarlet will be desperate to prove a point.

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ALAS, at least you know where you are with the Dragons.

The Rodney Parade region have languished near the bottom of the Guinness PRO14 for over a decade now, bracketed with the strugglers of professional European rugby.

Hopefully that will change with a dramatically improved 2018/19 and then steady growth towards being a more competitive side.

But at the moment the Dragons are an organisation that provide consistency, albeit unwanted consistency, in an age of hot takes and a hunger to leap to big conclusions.

It’s this time every year that the tedious debate about which league is the best usually crops up with each season taken in isolation.

In 2017 England had defended their Six Nations crown and then Saracens showed the power of the Aviva Premiership by becoming back-to-back European kings.

Fast forward a season and there is much navel-gazing to the east after Eddie Jones’ men finished with just Italy beneath them and Sarries, their last team standing in the premier Euro tournament, were sent packing by Leinster.

Cue cries for a review the entire structure of English rugby, ring-fencing, central contracts et al.

In truth there is no need to be so hasty – the top teams in the Premiership are always of similar standard to those going well in the PRO14 and of the French big guns.

Those that lift the trophy always need a large slice of luck, something that sportsmen sometimes have a reluctance to admit.

The middle ground is not the exciting place to be at the moment; every argument is like a radio show where one presenter believes (for that day, at least) the polar opposite to his colleague… ring in on a premium phone line to state your case and maybe win a voucher for some laminate flooring.

But the England national team weren’t as good as many in the media were claiming to be in 2016 and 2017, nor are they as bad as some have claimed recently.

Ireland are undoubtedly a quality side, and their depth is mightily impressive, but their Grand Slam needed Jonathan Sexton’s late burglary in Paris.

The Irish Press seem to be expecting a Leinster versus Munster showdown in Bilbao, and that provincial success prompts some to claim theirs is the model to follow (conveniently ignoring the vast sums spent on squads in Dublin and Limerick plus Ulster, the biggest underachievers in European rugby).

The Heineken Cup was unpredictable, so is the Champions Cup and we should just accept the annual fluctuations rather than leap to conclusions.

And if it’s any consolation to the English clubs who will look on enviously while the last four battle in Dublin on Saturday, April 21 then Bordeaux the following afternoon, they possess a vibrant competition that keeps their supporters happy.

The Champions Cup is heading for Wales, Ireland or France but the English have domestic fun to keep them entertained and a play-off race that features seven teams beneath leaders Exeter with four rounds to go.

The Premiership won't provide the European champions this season, and it certainly isn't a dramatically superior quality to the PRO14 like some of its cheerleaders claim, but it's engrossing even if no clubs can hold a candle to Leinster et al… in 2018, at least.

In Newcastle next year, who knows?