The Dragons U18s and U16s head into a pair of crunch fixtures tomorrow night that will go a long way to determining their fate for the rest of the championship.
The Dragons U16s play Blues North U16s at Abercynon, 7.15pm kick off with both teams vying for the final place in the Championship semi final. The Dragons cruelly lost their last game against the Scarlets back in December with the last play of the game and thus need to win tomorrow night to progress. Head Coach, Grant Robson, picks from a largely full squad and expects a tough encounter, 'We lost to the North earlier in the season at home in what was probably our worst performance of the season. However, we have improved a lot since then and have started to settle down in a consistent squad selection. I'm sure the game will be a little edgy due to the importance of the fixture but we are committed to playing an entertaining brand of rugby and that wont change tomorrow.'
The Dragons U18s have any equally important fixture when they host the Scarlets at Rodney Parade tomorrow, 7.15pm kick off. Whoever wins the fixture will see them progress to the final of the Championship. If the Dragons don't win they will have a second chance to progress when they play the Blues. Will Thomas, Dragons Performance Manager, knows a tough challenge lies in wait for the Dragons. 'Looking at the Scarlets squad they are filled with talent, as fourteen out of their starting fifteen were capped at Wales U16s level and although they had a poor result against the Ospreys at home they have played some good rugby this season. Whereas we have just had thirteen of our squad selected for the Wales U18s extended squad and nine of the boys have had Premiership experience this year so there is plenty at stake tomorrow. Having not played for over a month due to the poor weather, we are very much looking forward to the fixture.'
Dragons U16s squad
1 Keegan Bale 2 Kristian Greenway 3 Jake Edwards 4 Harrison Keddie 5 Joe Davies 6 Matthew Williams 7 Seamus Casey 8 Todd James (C) 9 Owain Davies 10 Scott Turner 11 Tom Williams 12 Taylor Dimmick 13 Tyler Morgan 14 Connor Kidner 15 Kaan Keen
16 Ashton Morgan 17 Keane Davies 18 Louis Tovey 19 Adam Buttifant 20 Gareth Allen 21 Elliot Smith 22 Ben Snell 23 Dan Dunmore
Dragons U18s squad
1 James Johnstone, 2 Elliot Dee, 3 Alex Jeffries, 4 Scott Andrews, 5 Lance Randell, 6 Mike Andrews, 7 Scott Matthews, 8 James Benjamin, 9 Luke Crane, 10 Ethan Davies, 11 Lewis Hudd, 12 Dom Franchi, 13 Jack Dixon, Ashton Hewitt, 15 Hallam Amos
16 Luke Garrett, 17 Garin Eldred, 18 Dan Goode, 19 Derryn Jones, 20 Jordan Richards, 21 Josh Guy, 22 Nial Martin, 23 Dom Callaghan
