THE GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF RODNEY PARADE FOR SMITH

Newport Gwent Dragons welcome former Newport No 10 Franco Smith to Rodney Parade this weekend as they host Benetton Treviso

Newport Gwent Dragons welcome former Newport No 10 Franco Smith to Rodney Parade this weekend as they host Benetton Treviso for the return leg of their back-to-back Heineken Cup Pool 1 clashes on Saturday, 15 December (kick off 14.30).

Smith – the former South African outside half who played for Newport in the 1999 / 2000 European Challenge Cup tournament before moving to Italy and playing for Treviso for three seasons – returns as the Head Coach of the reigning Italian champions.

The Dragons beat Treviso 35-32 in Round 3 at Stadio Comunale di Monigo last Saturday, coming away with a vital bonus point.

On the back-to-back matches with Treviso, Dragons Head Coach Paul Turner commented:

“For 45 minutes in Treviso we played some wonderful rugby but unfortunately some glaring errors allowed Treviso back in the game. That will make the Italians more confident travelling to Rodney Parade this weekend and we must improve defensively. We must also make sure that we play the football that we are capable of and produce the top performance that we owe to our supporters.”

Colin Charvis captains the team against Treviso and added: “It was pleasing to get an away win in Europe. We played some top class rugby out there last week, bringing home the five points that we went out there to get, although equally we switched off and made some mistakes. We are determined to learn from that and put in a full 80 minute performance this weekend.”

Full back Kevin Morgan is fired up for the Round 4 contest in front of the home fans.

“The fans who travelled to Treviso last week were superb and we’ll be looking for a win at home to thank them for their commitment to supporting the team,” said Morgan. “When you’re away from home, especially in Europe, the travelling fans give you that extra confidence and last week we managed a win. As a team we thank everyone who travelled to support us last week.

“This week we are feeling confident but we don’t underestimate the Treviso side. They are a strong unit as they showed in last week’s second half performance.”

Head Coach Paul Turner announces a strong team again this weekend. The team is as follows:

15 Kevin Morgan

14 Martyn Thomas

13 Paul Emerick

12 Rhodri Gomer Davies

11 Richard Fussell

10 Ceri Sweeney

9 Andy Williams

1 Adam Black

2 Steven Jones

3 Rhys Thomas

4 Luke Charteris