It will be a testing start to the new season for the young Dragons, but like the senior side in the Guinness PRO14, two home fixtures gives them the opportunity to begin the campaign and the new competition positively.
Featuring development sides from the four Irish Provinces and the four Welsh Regions, the Celtic Cup been installed this season to help prepare players, coaches, referees and other performance staff for professional rugby.
The tournament starts in the second weekend of the new season with matches played between Thursday and Saturday. The first round will see the four regions, who make up the Welsh Conference, go head to head in two derby clashes – Ospreys v Scarlets and Dragons v Blues.
Each team will play seven matches on consecutive weekends, three against domestic opposition and four against the sides in the opposite conference. The two teams at the top of each Conference will then face off in a final, so it promises to be a very intense period for the players.
Bernard Jackman is excited by the prospect of the new competition, with the young Dragons coaching team headed up by Academy Manager James Chapron, with support from Ian Evans (Forwards), Alan Kingsley (Backs), Jon Westwood as Director of Rugby and a full back room team.
“We’re committed to ensuring we produce young home grown players with high potential to succeed for the Dragons and for Wales, so creating the right structure, training environment and standard of competition is crucial,” said Jackman.
“The Celtic Cup is an exciting development and a positive step in helping the Welsh regions develop their players. The match-ups with the other Welsh regions and the Irish provinces will give players a chance to get their own little PRO14 experience at a high standard of rugby.
“We’re fortunate to have a number of good young players coming through and we could comfortably pick match day squads for the Celtic Cup consisting solely of under 23 year olds. We gave 64 players a game last season, with 21 players making their PRO14 debut for us and 17 of those have come through from clubs within our region.
“The step up to regional rugby is a big one and it takes players time to adapt to the level required. I’m confident that the Celtic Cup will help prepare players for professional rugby.”
The Blues are expected to bring some of their senior pros who need some game time into their match day squad as they hope to use the Celtic Cup in much the same way as the old Anglo-Welsh Cup.
“Many of the players won’t have been used to coming under the level of scrutiny that they will be exposed to and it will be a sharp learning curve for them,” said former Blues and Dragons scrum half Richie Rees who will head up the Blues coaching team. “But it will be great exposure for them."
“The competition is going to be very competitive and it will be down to the players to prove their worth.”
Dragons play RGC 1404 on Saturday at Ystrad Mynach, kick off 2.30pm with free entry for all.
CELTIC CUP
Welsh Conference: Cardiff Blues, Dragons, Ospreys, Scarlets
Irish Conference: Connacht, Leinster, Munster, Ulster
Fixtures
Weekend 1 – Sep 7 Munster v Connacht Ulster v Leinster Ospreys v Scarlets Dragons v Cardiff Blues
Weekend 2 – Sep 14-16 Leinster v Cardiff Blues Ospreys v Munster Ulster v Scarlets Dragons v Connacht
Weekend 3 – Sep 21-23 Scarlets v Leinster Munster v Dragons Cardiff Blues v Ulster Connacht v Ospreys
Weekend 4 – Sep 28-30 Leinster v Ospreys Cardiff Blues v Munster Ulster v Dragons Scarlets v Connacht
Weekend 5 – Oct 5-7 Dragons v Leinster Munster v Scarlets Ospreys v Ulster Connacht v Cardiff Blues
Weekend 6 – Oct 12-14 Leinster v Munster Connacht v Ulster Cardiff Blues v Ospreys Scarlets v Dragons
