BLUR'S 'Country House' was part of the post-match soundtrack that boomed out of Newport's changing room following their much-needed Premiership win against Bridgend last weekend.

It doesn't seem long since the height of Britpop when that song was battling Oasis' 'Roll with It' for top spot in the charts.

Yet Tyler Morgan, the mightily impressive Dragons academy outside centre who has been starring for the Black and Ambers, wasn't even born when Albarn & Co defeated the Gallaghers on Sunday, August 20, 1995.

While that serves to make the rest of us feel old, it does show the talent that will be in the region's ranks when they take on the Scarlets in the LV= Cup tomorrow evening.

Hallam Amos and Jack Dixon, at 19 and 18 respectively, are already first team regulars and the next batch of young Dragons are on their way.

Morgan, hooker Elliot Dee, lock Joe Davies, winger Ashton Hewitt and back row forwards Scott Matthews, Ollie Griffiths and James Benjamin have all been brought into the fray.

That is encouraging but fears about the Dragons' tight five remain, and that isn't a problem that will be solved by promising teens.

The region head into the Scarlets game on the back of three defeats in which Bath, the Ospreys and Leinster put the squeeze on in the set piece.

The scrum has struggled for many a year and it is frustrating to see how tomorrow's hosts have got to grips with the new engagements – crouch, bind, set – to develop a weapon to their game.

The Scarlets, under the guidance of former Dragons coach Danny Wilson and led by in-form loosehead Phil John, have turned an average scrum into a good one.

The Rodney Parade region, meanwhile, struggle on.

Lyn Jones and Kingsley Jones would have known that it would be tough up front when they inherited a squad that was short of at least two seasoned props and an uncompromising second row.

I can't have been the only one to watch last week's charity clash between England and Australia's legends and pondered whether the recently-retired lock Simon Shaw could do a job at Rodney Parade.

Cory Hill will soon join former Wales Under-20s second row partner Matthew Screech at the Dragons and the former Cardiff Blues pair have great promise... but they're just 21.

Patience must be a virtue with the raw talent in the squad and we will also have to bide our time before the Joneses can dip into the transfer market to try and target their problem areas.