IN celebration of the build-up to Judgement Day, the Dragons challenged their regional rivals in the form of the Crabbie’s Challenge.

Touring the country this month, the Crabbie’s Challenge has brought together players from Cardiff Blues, the Scarlets, Ospreys and Dragons to see which of the clubs taking part at Principality Stadium on April 28 has the ultimate kicking credentials.

Each team has put forward a squad of four kickers including one front row, one forward and two backs, each taking part in three kicking contests to see who will take the honour of winning the Judgement Day Crabbie’s Challenge.

With the Dragons ‘kicking off’ the competition at their training ground in Ystrad Mynach, their representatives were captain and lock Cory Hill, his Wales teammate Elliot Dee, fly-half Arwel Robson and full-back Zane Kirchner.

After a quick warm up on the Crabbie’s passing cage, the players went into their first test designed to test their speed. How many penalties can be kicked from the 22 in 10 seconds.

For some of the team, this was the first time they’d kicked from a tee in years, however it was to be Cory and Zane who came out on top in the first round, posting a respectable five penalties each through the posts.

Cory said: “Kicking is not part of my game. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I had to kick a penalty! It was good to finish the first round on top along with Zane.”

Next up it was one of the toughest challenges with a single tackle bag placed between the posts – this challenge is all about pinpoint accuracy, where each player had five attempts to kick a ball into the tackle bag.

This proved a real test, however South African international, Zane Kirchner, shone with two direct hits out of his five attempts.

He added; “It’s a real tough one, however where the others tried to roll it into the bag, I went for a more direct approach which worked well!”

Last, but certainly not least, it was a test of balance.

Spinning around the ball ten times, the players then stepped back for one last dizzy shot at goal. With Arwel, Elliott and Zane stepping back and striking the ball sweetly between the uprights, the pressure was on, however dizziness proved too much for Cory.

The day ended with Zane setting a respectable target of 14 points individually, and the Dragons setting the bar of 36 points for the Crabbie’s Challenge for the rest of the rest of the Judgement Day teams to beat.

The Argus was also invited to pit their wits against other members of the media… with rugby writer Chris Kirwan having mixed fortunes with a respectable effort from the speed kicking before he lost his bearings due to dizziness.

To see more of the challenges visit https://vimeo.com/crabbiesuk or https://www.facebook.com/CrabbiesUK/- why not have a go yourself and sent it to @CrabbiesUK on Facebook?