TO borrow a phrase from another sport : "You've got to be joking."

It was, of course, former tennis brat John McEnroe who famously coined that phrase. But how it applied to Newport Gwent Dragons in a different age, on a different sporting stage at the Arms Park on Saturday night.

For the Dragons, with a stronger team than last season, managed to look an inferior outfit.

They achieved the double over Cardiff Blues last season with a team labelled "a bunch of rejects" and, don't forget, that Cardiff side included players of the calibre of Iestyn Harris and the Robinson brothers, Jamie and Nicky, plus scrum- half Ryan Powell.

They were negated because the Dragons pack, in particular, worked up such a head of steam and became so all-embracing that those gifted backs rarely saw the ball.

But a season on, and what did we see? A Dragons pack taken apart in the scrums - can you believe that after last year? - a pack ineffective as a unit and a back division, indeed a whole team, which failed to match the togetherness of last season.

The first principles of rugby union are not fitness, strength and power, important though they all are, of course. No, the least requirement, the basic need, is for a firm and reliable set piece.

Without a solid and efficient scrum and lineout you can go nowhere. Mike Ruddock established that with the Dragons last season, and if you go way back to the Seventies, when Wales were in their pomp with some magnificent backs, nothing was achieved until the pack gained supremacy. And that took about an hour to achieve.

Then, and only then, did Wales blossom with their memorable rugby. Ask Bobby Windsor, ask Graham Price, ask 'Charlie' Faulkner how that was achieved. It was done by getting the basics right.

The Blues pack has undeniably been strengthened by the arrival of Gethin Jenkins and Robert Sidoli.

The Dragons should still have been a better unit. They had all of last season's success to draw on, but it was never apparent.

How come they were pushed around by the Blues eight? How come they were bossed and shoved off their own ball?

The only answer is that insufficient time has been given to all-important work on the set pieces during pre-season training.

The first thing new coach Chris Anderson ought to do from today is give hours and hours to the scrum. Let those who know about it have their way and their say.

There were other problems on Saturday, like ball retention and general fluency, but everything stemmed from the Dragons' failing scrum.

And it has to be said that insisting on going down the same channel all the time smacked of predictability. To say the approach was one-dimensional would be an understatement.

Forward after forward blasted down that same old channel. The Dragons are going to be found out pretty quickly on this basis.

And outside the pack, what on earth happened to Ceri Sweeney? Here is a player who went on tour to Argentina in the summer as Wales' leading outside- half, yet he looked completely lost on Saturday.

In fact, he played like someome whose confidence is shot to pieces already. He is being asked to play a style which is clearly alien to him and he was targeted by the Blues, hounded right off his game.

Both Cardiff tries by Richard Smith and Martyn Williams came from charged-down Sweeney kicks. Apart from that, he was slow to clear, hesitant, and stuttering in all parts of his game.

In contrast newcomer Lee Thomas opposite him, a more limited player, proved far more effective. Despite looking ponderous, he managed the basics comfortably, simply kicking the Blues downfield with the howling wind at their backs.

There has got to be a complete overhaul by Dragons coach Anderson this week, otherwise Llanelli Scarlets will take them to the cleaners on Friday night, for Gareth Jenkins will do his homework for sure.

The Dragons clearly missed Michael Owen, who was forced off with a nasty cut near the eye after 33 minutes, though Anderson downplayed that, preferring to focus on other matters.

Owen's presence is essential, but it should be at number eight where he is at his best with his handling skills and vision. Ross Beattie should be alongside him, with Peter Sidoli at lock, while Adam Black will challenge for a place, too.

Clearly, Gareth Cooper has got to start, for as soon as he went on midway through the second half he showed his class.

And, given Percy Montgomery's amazing enthusiasm and appetite for the game, plus his willingness to play right away, what a shot in the arm it would be to see him facing the Scarlets!

The major criterion has got be getting the basic essentials right, a simple approach and allow a number of gifted players to do the rest - not make the team play some narrow type of game with tactics that are foreign to them. If that way persists the outcome could be disaster.

It began so promisingly on Saturday, when a drive by the pack saw Sweeney deliver a flat pass to Hal Luscombe - again the Dragons' best back -- and he sent Gareth Wyatt steaming over in the corner.

A Sweeney penalty was all the Dragons could muster after that, as the Blues took charge and taught the Dragons a painful lesson. It has got to be heeded.

Cardiff Blues: R Williams, J Vaughton, T Shanklin, T Davies, C Morgan, L Thomas, R Smith, G Jenkins, G Williams, B Evans (M Jones 68), C Quinnell, R Sidoli (D Jones 80), N Thomas, K Schubert, M Williams (captain).

Scorers - tries: R Smith, M Williams; conversion: L Thomas; penalties (2): Thomas. Newport Gwent Dragons: K Morgan, G Wyatt, H Luscombe, J Bryant (S Tuipulotu 65), N Brew, C Sweeney, G Baber (G Cooper 59), R Snow (A Black 52), S Jones, C Anthony, I Gough, M Owen (P Sidoli 33), J Ringer, R Bryan, J Forster (captain). Scorers - try: G Wyatt; penalty: C Sweeney.