Tigers v Newport Gwent Dragons (AWC)

[ourla]

A reminder season ticket holders can get an extra ticket for free (a la Coventry Wasps) for this weekends games. And that includes juniors by the way.

Officials will be:

Referee: Andrew Jackson (England)
Assistant referees: Steve Lee (England), Darryl Chapman (England)
Timekeeper: Paul Stanley (England)
Assessor: Brian Campsall (England)

England match to be shown as live after the match in the Final Whistle.

Genge has been sent back by England so potentially could feature.

[ourla]

Team news as from the Merc and Richard Blaze.

Matt Smith doubtful. Will be a very similar side as at Bath.

[jgriffin]

Assume Dosser is out, Maksymiw, Balmain?.....
Hope there's somebody interesting like Crofty around Saturday! Weather forecast is a bit , brought to us by the Gods of Rodney Parade so poncho will be needed.

[ourla]

Weather forecast is certainly not great.

But hopefully with this new pitch it will still be a good game.

Lot of talk of how with nobody lost to international duty and a small squad that the Dragons will put out a strong team.

[KevinR]

Latest forecast shows that the morning's heavy rain will have passed by kick-off.

[trendylfj]

That is a strong team and we should be on for a bonus point win

[RagingBull]

I know the likes of Catchpole had picked up injuries but our team selection has too many senior players and starters IMO.

Hopefully Worth has another good game.

I get the 10,12,13 playing since that will prob be the team v Wuins and will need game time.

But why not slot in the likes of Yawayawa and Lewis on bench.

[Brianf]

Newport Gwent Dragons team -

15 Carl Meyer, 14 Tom Prydie, 13 Adam Warren, 12 Jack Dixon ©, 11 Ashton Hewitt, 10 Geraint Rhys Jones, 9 Tavis Knoyle; 1 Phil Price, 2 Darran Harris, 3 Craig Mitchell, 4 Joe Davies, 5 Matthew Screech, 6 James Thomas, 7 Nic Cudd, 8 Harri Keddie.

Replacements: Elliot Dee, Sam Hobbs, Leon Brown, Robson Blake, Josh Skinner, Owen Davies, Arwel Robson, Will Talbot-Davies.

[ourla]

Tigers: 15 George Worth; 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Jack Roberts, 12 Owen Williams, 11 Peter Betham; 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Sam Harrison (c); 1 Marcos Ayerza, 2 Harry Thacker, 3 Greg Bateman; 4 Harry Wells, 5 Graham Kitchener; 6 Tom Croft, 7 Will Evans, 8 Luke Hamilton: Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Pat Cilliers, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Brendon O'Connor, 21 Jono Kitto, 22 Oli Bryant, 23 Mathew Tait.

Leicester Tigers bring in a raft of senior players for Saturday's Anglo-Welsh Cup clash against Newport-Gwent Dragons at Welford Road (3pm).

Peter Betham, Owen Williams and Adam Thompstone join the backline, while Marcos Ayerza starts in the front row and Graham Kitchener is named at lock.

Freddie Burns retains his place at fly-half with Williams at inside centre. Jack Roberts is outside him, with Thompstone and Betham on the wings. Sam Harrison will captain the side from scrum-half.

[ourla]

Newport Gwent Dragons have named a team that will combine youth and experience to take on Leicester Tigers at Welford Road, Saturday KO 15:00.

The Anglo-Welsh Cup returns after a season long break and the competition will be an opportunity to see some the Region’s young talent on show including Leon Brown, Arwel Robson and Harri Keddie.

21-year-old Jack Dixon has been named as tomorrow’s Captain and he cannot wait for the run out at Welford Road: “Leicester are a quality team and the boys can’t wait to get there; we’ve heard the ground is great and they get good crowds.

“We are all excited for this one because a few of the old heads have said what a good experience it is there and it’s a chance for some of the academy boys to have a run out.”

Looking back on the win last weekend against Connacht, he continued: “It was nice to get a good win over the champions and things have been really positive in training, the boys are smiling and laughing and we are looking forward to the weekend.

“We’ve set the bar now. We feel we haven’t been far off getting the wins and we are going in the right direction, so we have to keep building.”

Captain Dixon is joined in the centre partnership alongside Adam Warren, with the back three consisting of fullback Carl Meyer and wings Tom Prydie and last weekend’s Man of the Match Ashton Hewitt. Tavis Knoyle gets the nod at scrum-half as Geraint Rhys Jones has an opportunity to show his kicking skills at fly-half.

The front row sees props Phil Price and Craig Mitchell line up next to hooker Darran Harris. 20-year- old Joe Davies is joined in the second row by lock Matthew Screech, with a back row consisting of flankers James Thomas and Nic Cudd along with Wales Under 20s star Harri Keddie at number 8.

The replacements bench, which has an average age of 21, sees six potential debutants for the Men of Gwent as Leon Brown, Bedwas star Robson Blake, Josh Skinner, Owen Davies, Arwel Robson and Will-Tabot Davies. They are all joined on the bench by Elliot Dee, who returns from a long-term injury, and Sam Hobbs.

Read more at http://www.premiershiprugby.com/news/dr ... rXEyeDb.99

[ourla]

Looks a bit of a mismatch team wise.

We should win comfortably.

[ourla]

3-0 after about 12 minutes.

[ourla]

Owen Williams try, Burns converts. 10-0.

[ourla]

Dragons pull 3 back.

Burns sounds like he's having a great game.

[ourla]

Burns and Williams combine well to set up Thompstone for try No 2.

Burns misses a difficult conversion. 15-3 is the lead.