Dragons' Price check (From South Wales Argus)

Dragons' Price check

9:50am Monday 20th February 2012 in Dragons By Chris Kirwan

NEWPORT Gwent Dragons are considering offering a deal to in-form Cross Keys hooker Gerwyn Price.

The Rodney Parade region have enjoyed success with plucking back-row forward Andrew Coombs, hooker Lloyd Burns, prop Dan Way, wing Mike Poole and flanker Darren Waters from the Premiership.

Now they are keeping a close eye on Price, who has been in inspired form since returning to Pandy Park from Neath this season.

The 26-year-old has been a vital cog in Keys’ journey to the semi-finals of the British and Irish Cup and has impressed with both his work at the set piece and around the paddock.

The Dragons are keen to monitor the progress of a number of standout players in the Premiership, but any potential signings would not be direct replacements for high-profile Rodney Parade exits.

The region is pressing on with their recruitment targets as they look to fill the void left by France-bound Luke Charteris and Aled Brew, Cardiff Blues target fly-half Jason Tovey and retirees Tom Willis and Ben Castle.

Head coach Darren Edwards has admitted his frustration at seeing Brew head over to the Top 14.

The Dragons believed they were close to convincing the winger to remain at Rodney Parade until a French offer, believed to be from Biarritz, blew their bid out of the water.

“Welsh rugby’s a crazy place to work at the moment and it changes every week. We can’t compete against France,” said Edwards.

“It’s a huge blow to lose Aled because I’ve put a lot of work into him and he has repaid that every week that he takes to the field, but I fully understand the reasons why he is moving on.

“There are no hard feelings, he has made the right decision for him at this moment in time.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see him back here in the future, the door’s always open and I am sure he’d take that offer up if it came around again.”

Meanwhile, the Dragons will be heading to Aironi on Sunday looking to secure back-to-back RaboDirect Pro12 wins for the first time this season.

A 21-10 success against Edinburgh at Rodney Parade lifted the region above Connacht into 10th in the table and built up a seven-point gap over the Italian strugglers.

“I’ll always take the win, particularly where we’ve been in the table and how fractured our season has been,” said Edwards. “But I was extremely frustrated with other aspects because if we had scored four tries I don’t think that anybody would have complained.

“We didn’t take our opportunities but the glass has to be half-full. We play in a tough league and it’s important that wins go on that table.

“Aironi is a very winnable game and then we have Munster at home.

“We have got to take confidence and keep improving. If we do a good enough job in the next few weeks we will keep climbing the table.”