Dragons Academy Development Coach Shaun Connor praised the attacking intent of Dragons Under-18s after they opened the new Regional Age Grade Championship season with a 42-14 bonus point win over Ospreys at Ystrad Mynach.
Huw Anderson, Harri Ackerman, Nick Thomas, Will Rees, Cameron Davies and Walker Price all crossed the whitewash in the victory, with Sam Berry impressing from the tee.
“It was an entertaining game,” said Connor. “We went out with the intent of trying to play some rugby and first half we did, but with a few too many errors.
“We rectified that second half, when we looked after the ball, and we got our rewards.
“We carried a little bit high first half, which allowed them to choke tackle us, and then we gave turnovers away. It was about us getting our height right.”
Dragons Under-18s are next in action on Sunday when they face RGC at Parc Erias (kick-off 2.30pm). And Connor has urged his squad to maintain standards and replicate the second half show on home soil.
He said: “We know RGC are a big physical team so if we go up there and play like we did first half it is going to be a long day and tough battle.
“But if we can implement our game plan, I think we can cause them problems.
“We’ve been together five or six weeks now and tried to train fast and play the game at a high tempo,” he added.
“There were probably a few too many scrums against Ospreys, but if sides are making errors there is not a lot the referee can do about that.
“We have got to keep playing with intent, and if we can be a bit more accurate going forward then we can cause teams problems.”
Captain and centre Harri Ackerman – who grabbed a first half try – was also pleased with the attitude of the players on day one.
“It was a nice start; all the boys are buzzing and hopefully we can now carry this onto RGC. It’s a quick turnaround but we can’t let it drop now,” he said.
“The first half was good in some areas, but we let the ball go too much down the wide channels.
“We made our focus keeping hold of the ball and when did that we started scoring tries.
“You can’t afford to give the ball away and if we can hold onto it then hopefully, we can produce the same result at RGC.
“We are all working hard for the badge, you can’t ask for much more than that, so it’s a positive start for us.
We’ve been together five or six weeks now and tried to train fast and play the game at a high tempo...
