Newport Gwent Dragons begin their 2005/06 Celtic League campaign with an away game against Glasgow on Friday kick off 7.30pm.
The Dragons have announced a 24-man squad for the trip to Scotland and the team will be finalised after Wednesday’s training. Kevin Morgan and Ceri Sweeney both return for The Dragons after completing their pre season training and will play some part in the match. It is anticipated that flanker Andrew Hall will make his competitive debut for The Dragons against his former club Glasgow. Dragons apprentice player Richard Fussell who has played in all The Dragons pre season matches is named in the squad along with Wales U19 scrum half Alex Walker.
The Dragons have been boosted with three wins from three in their pre season matches and were the only Welsh Region to record a win over Guinness Premiership opposition beating Bath 20-14 last weekend. “Naturally the pre season matches have given us a boost,” commented Head Coach Paul Turner. “However, they count for nothing now we are entering the competitive stage of the season. We have a difficult start to our League campaign with three away matches so our feet are firmly on the ground despite last Saturday’s result. We need to get some away wins if we are to be competitive in the league and we are targeting getting a couple of wins from our first three games. There is no doubt Saturday’s victory has given the squad a boost especially when they were at full strength and we were missing a number of our internationals.”
The Dragons recorded two wins from two last season against Glasgow beating them 29-38 at Hughenden and 21-16 at Rodney Parade. “The good thing is we know how to win at Glasgow but we are aware of the challenge they pose and are not underestimating them in the slightest,” continued Paul. “We welcome Kevin and Ceri back into the squad and will look to carry on from where we left off against Bath. That game highlighted there were certain areas that needed work such as our ball retention but we have been addressing that in training this week. What has been especially pleasing is the players attitude and there is tremendous spirit in the squad which is hugely important and we travel to Glasgow looking to start our Celtic League campaign with a win.”
Dragons Squad
Kevin Morgan, Leigh Hinton, Gareth Wyatt, Hal Luscombe, Sione Tuipulotu, Jon Bryant, Richard Fussell, Ceri Sweeney, Craig Warlow, Alex Walker, Gareth Baber, Adam Black, David Maddocks, Kieran Crawford, Gethin Robinson, Rhys Thomas, Ian Gough, Luke Charteris, Peter Sidoli, Andrew Hall, Rhys Oakley, Jason Forster, Jamie Ringer, Richard Bryan.
