Welsh Derbies

[Numbers]

I'm looking forward to the boxing day double header, two interesting games.

Dragons v Blues - Not sure if I can call this one, the Dragons home advantage could sway it for them, I think it'll be a close affair.

Scarlets v Ospreys - I have a feeling this will also be a close encounter, the Os are getting slowly better and the Scarlets haven't really hit their straps so far this season, a narrow Scarlets win perhaps.

The weather conditions could have an impact on the outcome of these games, I would say wet and windy would be more suited to the Blues and the Os.

[Sandydragon]

Me too. Nothing like the derbies over the Christmas period to get over all the usual repeats. I wouldn’t like to call either game. Hopefully some supporters will bother to turn up for the Dragons.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Looking forward to both....

The Ospreys are on a slight upturn but I'd be surprised (albeit pleasantly) to see them beat the Scarlets, especially at PyS.

Dragons v Blues is harder to call... Blues are marginal favourites for me.

[Sandydragon]

Any idea what the TV coverage is?

[ALunpg]

Any idea what the TV coverage is?

Boxing day
Blues v Dragons BBC 2 Wales
Scarlets v Ospreys Sky Action

[Son of Mathonwy]

Any idea what the TV coverage is?

Boxing day
Blues v Dragons BBC 2 Wales
Scarlets v Ospreys Sky Action

Scarlets v Ospreys also on S4C

[Sandydragon]

Cool, that’s my Boxing Day entertainment sorted.

[paddy no 11]

Is that dafydd Jones on s4c?

[paddy no 11]

Or the good Welsh 6 whatever his name was?

[wayneha50]

Only the Blues could be heading for an away try bonus point with 20 minutes to go & end up hanging on for the win.

Entertaining second half though at least.

[Buggaluggs]

Well, fuck my best boots.

[Sandydragon]

Awful game. Dragons looked better when Prestorious came on, but the Cardiff pack got the better of the breakdown by some margin. Not t a great advert for welsh rugby though.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Aaagh. A bad last couple of minutes from the Ospreys. They'd done all the hard work, then got pushed off their own scrum when the game was won. They just want this season to end now. Unfortunately there is more pain to come (I expect).

[PoolerSaint]

Shame the weather was so bad for both games but good to see two big crowds.
The Dragons and Blues both had quite a few missing players but the depth of the Blues squad is better than the Dragons & it showed.
Shame someone can't grab Nicky Thomas & give him a good kick in the arse. He's an excellent tighthead scrummager but you can't get by just being a good tight forward any more.
I remember watching him with Nicky Smith at U20's level & he was superb. Ospreys let him go & he's been at Gloucester & Bristol then back to the Scarlets who've now sent him on loan to the Dragons.
Good tightheads are worth their weight in gold, he could be very good.

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[ALunpg]

Nicky Thomas is one of those players that just doesn't take the information that's given to him .He won't be the first and certainly not the last not to reach their full promise.
Although I am greatly concerned about our tight head issues it does underline the whole thing of how we develop players from U 20 to senior international.

That said if he does not want to listen then he will only ta6je it onboard and change when the penny drops ...but this may not occur by 2019. If would be fair to think if he has not listened already then I doubt he will any time soon.

[MrK]

We have a real paucity of test level quality tight head props in Wales that was evidenced by Scott Andrews call up to the nation team in the AIs

To be fair to him he actually showed up well, but regardless of where the game is moving, we have to develop tight heads that first and foremost can anchor the scrum and do their job there, this is why the experiment of Rhodri Jones has never worked and this is why we need Samson Lee back and fit.

Leon Brown, Dillon Lewis and Kieran Assiratti all need to be taken to one side and get someone like Adam Jones or Horseman to mentor them on scrummaging technique. All 3 are good ball carriers and offer better go forward than what we currently have. If we can get their scrummaging right then one or more of them could shine.

Nicky Thomas is arguably a better scrummager than those 3 at this point, but has an apparently appalling level of fitness that he needs to work on.

As with the 3 above, someone needs to have a word with him and see if they can get him in the right mind set to buckle down and work on his general fitness, given how out of shape he looked on boxing day, I actually dont think that it would take that much effort to show even a modicum of improvement.

Be interesting to see what develops with these 4 between now and the WC

[Sandydragon]

Shame the weather was so bad for both games but good to see two big crowds.
The Dragons and Blues both had quite a few missing players but the depth of the Blues squad is better than the Dragons & it showed.
Shame someone can't grab Nicky Thomas & give him a good kick in the arse. He's an excellent tighthead scrummager but you can't get by just being a good tight forward any more.
I remember watching him with Nicky Smith at U20's level & he was superb. Ospreys let him go & he's been at Gloucester & Bristol then back to the Scarlets who've now sent him on loan to the Dragons.
Good tightheads are worth their weight in gold, he could be very good.

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Only if he gets fit. He is a superb scrummager and that we badly need, but if he can’t last20 minutes in a pro game then sadly he will never be good enough. If I were Jackman I’d gove him
a season to shape up or id let him go.

[PoolerSaint]

Shame the weather was so bad for both games but good to see two big crowds.
The Dragons and Blues both had quite a few missing players but the depth of the Blues squad is better than the Dragons & it showed.
Shame someone can't grab Nicky Thomas & give him a good kick in the arse. He's an excellent tighthead scrummager but you can't get by just being a good tight forward any more.
I remember watching him with Nicky Smith at U20's level & he was superb. Ospreys let him go & he's been at Gloucester & Bristol then back to the Scarlets who've now sent him on loan to the Dragons.
Good tightheads are worth their weight in gold, he could be very good.

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

Only if he gets fit. He is a superb scrummager and that we badly need, but if he can’t last20 minutes in a pro game then sadly he will never be good enough. If I were Jackman I’d gove him
a season to shape up or id let him go.

Lloyd Fairbrother has spoken highly of the new coaching regime & how he's fitter than ever. Hopefully they'll have the same impact on Nicky Thomas.
He won't get many more chances to prove himself.

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[Numbers]

Well Sunday sees the next round, I can't see anything other than Scarlets and Os wins, tho again the weather may prove a leveller.

Steff Evans is out for 4 weeks after the red card which is bad news for the Scarlets' European ambitions.

I've no idea what the state of play is with Samson Lee atm, hopefully he'll be back in the next couple of weeks.

[Sandydragon]

We seem to be resting players so I agree that the Ospreys are firm favourites for this weekend.

[Numbers]

We seem to be resting players so I agree that the Ospreys are firm favourites for this weekend.

I'm surprised that they're resting players as it's a home game and a Welsh derby against arguably the most beatable of the Welsh teams from a Dragons perspective.

I know Brown and Amos are both injured but Meyer is due back and he is a useful fullback.

[Sandydragon]

Hopefully we will have Dee available. He’s been cited for mishandling a referee in what is one of the most ridiculous calls by a citing commissioner. There are videos of th incident online but basically the ref on Boxing Day was between Dee and a cardiff player with the ball, Dee moves him aside and makes the tackle. A few minutes earlier, a Cardiff player did exactly the same. Now Dee has been cited and one can only hope the disciplinary board throw this out.

[Sandydragon]

Well TFFT Dee can play. The disciplinary committee felt that an offence had been committed but as no red card was issued no further action would be taken.

Utterly pathetic call that should have been thrown straight out, but instead the disciplinary committee couldn’t decided the fudge th issue.