Newport Gwent Dragons travel to Galway on Saturday for a Celtic League match against Connacht (kick off 2.30pm).
The Dragons have named a 25-man squad for the game and will announce the side before they travel to Ireland on Friday. The Dragons are awaiting news on Hal Luscombe (chest), Ian Gough (viral infection) and Luke Charteris (shoulder).
“We need to take our home performances on the road,” commented Head Coach Paul Turner. “We secured a magnificent win last Friday night and we need to build on that performance. We have a tough Easter period in front of us having to face Connacht on the weekend before two tough Welsh derbies in the space of four days. We need to perform in these games if we want to secure Heineken Cup rugby for next season and push our way up the Celtic League table. In Galway we have to perform, it is as simple as that. We cannot afford to slip up against Connacht who are a well organised side. We need to pick up a win before our home match against the Blues next Wednesday.”
The Dragons defeated Connacht in January when they ran out 27-19 winners, infact in all the meetings between the two sides The Dragons have only lost on one occasion the last meeting at Galway (19-14).
“We have only picked up one win on the road in 18 months which was against Glasgow at the start of the season,” commented winger Gareth Wyatt. “It is frustrating as we seem to be only narrowly losing away from Rodney Parade and if we take our positive attitude on the road and stay focused then we can win. Connacht’s performances belie their current league position and as they showed last weekend against Leinster they are a very strong side and it will be a huge challenge for us on the weekend. No doubt they will be ruing last weekend’s narrow defeat and out for revenge. Connacht are a much improved side and do not get the credit they deserve, they have a strong pack and creative backs in Mark McHugh, Darren Yapp and Matt Mostyn and we will not be underestimating them. However, we have our own objectives and are desperate to secure a place in next seasons Heineken Cup and providing we keep performing like we did last Friday then there is no reason why we cannot fulfil our objectives.”
Dragons Squad
Aled Thomas, Leigh Hinton, Gareth Wyatt, Hal Luscombe, Jon Bryant, Ceri Sweeney, Nathan Brew, Ben Breeze, Craig Warlow, Gareth Baber, James Ireland, Adam Black., David Maddocks, Steve Jones, Andrew Brown, Rhys Thomas, Gethin Robinson, Ian Gough, Luke Charteris, Peter Sidoli, Andrew Hall, Jamie Ringer, Jason Forster, Michael Owen, Rhys Oakley.
