Newport Gwent Dragons are aiming to stay at the top of the Magners League by defeating nearest rivals the Blues at Rodney Parade on Friday night (6.10pm).
Both sides remain undefeated after the opening weekend of Magners League action but come 8pm Friday one side (bar a draw) will have lost and The Dragons are confident it won't be them.
"The win at Stradey Park has given everybody a boost," commented scrum half Andy Williams who was awarded man of the match against the Scarlets. "We travelled away with confidence and knew we were capable of securing the win. At home we know we can perform in front of our home crowd and as last season when the team went on a ten match unbeaten run we look to do the same this season and surpass it. We aim to start the winning streak on Friday night."
The Dragons have named an initial squad of 24 for the game with Andrew Hall and Joe Bearman the two additions to the squad from the 22 that beat the Scarlets for the first time at Stradey Park last Saturday. Bearman has recovered from a wrist injury to be included.
It has been a good week for the Men of Gwent, following the win at Stradey it was announced yesterday that Rodney Parade will have a new £40m, 15,000 seater stadium.
Skipper for the Dragons Luke Charteris said, "All the players welcome the news that we will have a new stadium and it is a real positive. However, all our focus is on the Blues on Friday night and we know it will be a massive challenge. They have added some big name stars over the summer to the big names they already have. When the fixtures were announced we recognised the Scarlets and Blues games as massive ones and all the squad have targeted this game. We are looking forward to it and hoping for the same result as last years corresponding fixture."
As last season when the youngsters came to the fore the coaching team have maintained their policy of selecting home grown talent and the average age for the backs last weekend was 23 with four of the seven backs 22 years of age or under.
"The youngsters showed maturity in the game against the Scarlets," commented head coach Paul Turner. "In the last quarter of the game they showed composure and really shut the game down. There is no doubt that the Blues who are favourites for the Magners League title will be a massive challenge for the whole squad. However, if we show the same energy, discipline and ambition as we did on Saturday night then I can see no reason why backed with the passionate Rodney Parade crowd we can't win the game."
Martyn Thomas, Gareth Wyatt, Richard Mustoe, Gareth Maule, Phil Dollman, Ashley Smith, Gareth McCarthy, Aled Thomas, Andy Williams, Wayne Evans, Adam Black, Hugh Gustafson, Steve Jones, Ben Daly, Rhys Thomas, Luke Charteris (c), Andrew Hall, Adam Jones, Peter Sidoli, Jamie Ringer, Joe Bearman, Nic Fitisemanu, Dan Lydiate, Richard Parks.
