NEWPORT Gwent Dragons started their Guinness Pro12 campaign with a 29-8 thrashing at the hands of Ulster in Belfast. Here’s what we learned.
1: Expansive approach can work
First the good. The Dragons played some super rugby in the first quarter. Sam Beard and Pat Howard look quality additions while Ollie Griffiths is a class act, running with both power and brains.
There is clearly a change of mindset and no longer is the first thought to lump the ball in the air when it’s caught inside the Dragons’ half. Players also want to put it through the hands – as was shown by the 124 passes made despite having so little possession.
2: Twenty minutes is nowhere near good enough
It’s frequently trotted out by rugby players that ‘we’ve got to play for the full 80’. A team never manages this; lulls are inevitable.
Sometimes a longish spell of excellence is enough to secure the spoils by earning a substantial buffer but a quarter of good rugby in Ravenhill is well below the required amount.
The Dragons have started superbly in pre-season games with Cardiff Blues and Exeter as well as in the proper stuff against Ulster. But perhaps they need the help of Pele because they have problems keeping it up.
The Dragons are coming to terms with playing a new style but rapidly need to learn how to wrestle momentum back.
3: Daft errors kill a side
Howard sliding over the ball for the opener, simple forward pass when under the pump after conceding the first try, Cory Hill passing to nobody, Carl Meyer charged down. In 25 minutes the game was lost through sloppiness as well as number four…
4: Classy foreigners worth their weight in gold
One banner that was unfurled by one of the bars before kick-off then paraded on the terrace read: “D4 RUANING ULSTER”.
The natives are livid that orders from Dublin (D4 is the postal district of the Irish Rugby Football Union) mean that Pienaar must go at the end of the season with France his likely destination.
That’s a crying shame for the Guinness Pro12 which, despite chiefs spinning it otherwise, lacks the stardust and quality of the Aviva Premiership and Top 14.
Pienaar and Charles Piutau, who was lively on debut, not only help in the development of young talent but give supporters reason to keep coming through the turnstiles and viewers reason to tune in.
Pienaar’s departure will be a hammer blow.
5: Déjà vu all over again
For the second successive season the Dragons head from Ireland in round one to Newport in round two to face a Zebre side smarting from a Welsh thrashing.
The Italians are staying over here after their drubbing at the hands of the Ospreys, just as they did in 2015 after being crushed by Cardiff Blues.
Zebre may have comprehensively beaten the Dragons in the final game of 2015/16 but this is a must-win for Kingsley Jones’ men.
Now, however, they will have to overcome a side responding to embarrassment… and last year that meant the Dragons had to be content with a stodgy performance and a 13-0 success.
A win’s a win – and the Rodney Parade side have now lost 11 on the spin – but Jones and his players could do with an enthralling display to give a boost to supporters.
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