It's Heineken Time!
It's Heineken Cup Time for the Dragons
It's Heineken Time!
By Steve
October 17 2005
Once more unto the breech dear friends! Newport Gwent Dragons have an away trip to Castre to kick off their Heineken Cup group games this year followed by the first home Heineken Cup fixture against Sale Sharks on Friday 28th October.
It's Heineken Time!
October 17 2005
Once more unto the breech dear friends! Newport Gwent Dragons have an away trip to Castre to kick off their Heineken Cup group games this year followed by the first home Heineken Cup fixture against Sale Sharks on Friday 28th October.
The Dragons are on their way! Tickets for this game have bene on sale and can still be got until Wednesday 19th (Call the Rodney Parade Ticket Hotline on 01633 674990 to book, or alternatively you can drop into the ticket office at the ground).
So, what do we know about Castre? Well, they're ranked 13th (unlucky, but lets hope not for us) in the European rankings tables (http://www.eurorugby.com/index.php has the details) we're 31st. Since Septemeber, they've won 3 and lost 4 of their French Elite games ( losing to Perpignan, Agen, Biarritz and Stade Francais). They beat Toulon, Brive and Montferrand. Castre are mid table (well they were last time I looked). ANy French side is going to be hard to beat on their home territory, we can all remember Perpignan last year, where following an epic win down at Rodney Parade, we followed it up with an equally epic loss over there.
This time we start with a new coach and we've got Gareth Cooper coming back to form after injury and an operation. However, Hal Luscombe is out with a damaged hand and injuries to David Maddocks and Adam Black could leave us relying on props from the Welsh Premiership.
Pauk Turner has said "There's a heavy work load for us at the moment and going to the south of France is a big ask."
"But we're going in after a better game in Edinburgh and we have Mike Owen, Gareth Cooper and Steve Jones back."
So there's hope.
Turner doesn't pull the truth and went on to point out "We have a tough schedule with Sale after Castres, then going back to the Celtic League to play Borders where we will have lost our Wales players because of the New Zealand game."
If the Dragons play to their potential, make their tackles and take every opportunity that's handded to them, then anything could happen.
So, what do we know about Castre? Well, they're ranked 13th (unlucky, but lets hope not for us) in the European rankings tables (http://www.eurorugby.com/index.php has the details) we're 31st. Since Septemeber, they've won 3 and lost 4 of their French Elite games ( losing to Perpignan, Agen, Biarritz and Stade Francais). They beat Toulon, Brive and Montferrand. Castre are mid table (well they were last time I looked). ANy French side is going to be hard to beat on their home territory, we can all remember Perpignan last year, where following an epic win down at Rodney Parade, we followed it up with an equally epic loss over there.
This time we start with a new coach and we've got Gareth Cooper coming back to form after injury and an operation. However, Hal Luscombe is out with a damaged hand and injuries to David Maddocks and Adam Black could leave us relying on props from the Welsh Premiership.
Pauk Turner has said "There's a heavy work load for us at the moment and going to the south of France is a big ask."
"But we're going in after a better game in Edinburgh and we have Mike Owen, Gareth Cooper and Steve Jones back."
So there's hope.
Turner doesn't pull the truth and went on to point out "We have a tough schedule with Sale after Castres, then going back to the Celtic League to play Borders where we will have lost our Wales players because of the New Zealand game."
If the Dragons play to their potential, make their tackles and take every opportunity that's handded to them, then anything could happen.
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