Dragons star Ashley Smith will not only captain the region on Saturday against Toulouse (5:45pm) but will also be playing at 10.
“Ashley Smith will be making his first senior start at 10 this weekend, a position he played at junior level and it is testament to his maturity as a player that we are able to ask him to take on this challenge as well as leading the side today.
“I also think that our supporters can play a big part in events. It’s only our third home game of the season and our supporters can certainly make it a pretty uncomfortable evening for Toulouse tonight at Rodney Parade.”
Dragons scrum half Wayne Evans is under no illusions as to the importance of Saturday’s game
“This is why we dug in all last season- to qualify for this tournament and now we are facing the champions of Europe at home,” he said. “We’ll hit them with everything we’ve got. Every player wants to play rugby at the highest level they can and far from being daunted by this match we are seeing it as a great opportunity for us to prove ourselves as individuals and as a team.
“I’ve played against Toulouse twice before and I know that if Kelleher is playing then he will present a very physical challenge but I’ve played against physical scrum halves before. Wasps could have won last week but the weather conditions meant it was always going to be a tight game. This weekend is due to be dry and should lend itself to an open game that both teams like to play.
“We were disappointed by the result last weekend but it was one little concentration lapse that cost us the game and we played some good rugby.”
Dragons team for Toulouse
Will Harries, Adam Hughes, Thomas Cheeseman, Thomas Riley, Aled Brew, Ashley Smith (C), Wayne Evans, Phil Price, Steve Jones, Ben Castle, Scott Morgan, Robert Sidoli, Danny Lydiate, Gavin Thomas, Andrew Coombs
Replacements
Lloyd Burns, Hugh Gustafson, Pat Palmer, Luke Charteris, Tobey Faletau, Nicky Griffiths, Mathew Jones, Rhodri Gomer Davies
“Ashley Smith will be making his first senior start at 10 this weekend, a position he played at junior level and it is testament to his maturity as a player that we are able to ask him to take on this challenge as well as leading the side today.
“I also think that our supporters can play a big part in events. It’s only our third home game of the season and our supporters can certainly make it a pretty uncomfortable evening for Toulouse tonight at Rodney Parade.”
Dragons scrum half Wayne Evans is under no illusions as to the importance of Saturday’s game
“This is why we dug in all last season- to qualify for this tournament and now we are facing the champions of Europe at home,” he said. “We’ll hit them with everything we’ve got. Every player wants to play rugby at the highest level they can and far from being daunted by this match we are seeing it as a great opportunity for us to prove ourselves as individuals and as a team.
“I’ve played against Toulouse twice before and I know that if Kelleher is playing then he will present a very physical challenge but I’ve played against physical scrum halves before. Wasps could have won last week but the weather conditions meant it was always going to be a tight game. This weekend is due to be dry and should lend itself to an open game that both teams like to play.
“We were disappointed by the result last weekend but it was one little concentration lapse that cost us the game and we played some good rugby.”
Dragons team for Toulouse
Will Harries, Adam Hughes, Thomas Cheeseman, Thomas Riley, Aled Brew, Ashley Smith (C), Wayne Evans, Phil Price, Steve Jones, Ben Castle, Scott Morgan, Robert Sidoli, Danny Lydiate, Gavin Thomas, Andrew Coombs
Replacements
Lloyd Burns, Hugh Gustafson, Pat Palmer, Luke Charteris, Tobey Faletau, Nicky Griffiths, Mathew Jones, Rhodri Gomer Davies
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