Playmaker Sam Davies has praised Gordon Ross for the upturn in the side’s exciting attack - and urged Dragons to stay on the front foot and continue that style heading into the 2021/2022 campaign.
Former Scotland fly half Gordon Ross was a new member of the Dragons coaching staff coming into the 2020/2021 campaign, becoming Dean Ryan’s new Backs & Attack Coach.
Ross, who earned 25 caps for Scotland and played for Edinburgh, Leeds Carnegie, Castres, Saracens and London Welsh during his career, has made a big impact at Rodney Parade and has implemented a brand new expansive style of play at the region alongside boss Ryan.
Davies admits he has huge respect for Ross and believes his ideas are starting to be implemented successfully by the squad.
He said: “I've really enjoyed working with Gordon, as you can probably tell with some of our first phase attack has been quite good this season. We have scored numerous tries off first phase attack and Gordon has been a big part of that.
“He's brought his ideas in and also improved our movement game, which is our phase attack game and I do really enjoy working with Gordon.
"We have got that level of respect for each other which I think you should have between a player and coach - it works well.
“We bounce ideas off each other and then come up with the best plan for the weekend and it seems to be working.
"We challenge ourselves to score off first phase most games and I think we have been pretty successful at that, so long may it continue.”
Davies admits the brand of rugby Dragons are playing excites him, and he and his team-mates are really enjoying the freedom to express themselves.
And the 27-year-old believes the Dragons have now found their point of difference in playing the game at a fast pace.
“With a lot of the games the weather has helped, the pitches have helped recently and we're getting a new pitch at Rodney Parade, which is great news,” said the Swansea-born product.
“I think with the introduction of fans coming back then we can keep up this brand of rugby, which has got people talking and got people excited, and take it into next season.
“We will have four to five weeks off and then I don’t think it just disappears. We have been building this for a while, even since the first season I got here.
“We did play a lot of games in the rain, but we had to adapt to that and we managed to get a couple of good wins.”
Davies continued: “This season it has been more about expanding on that and changing our game. We've got a point of difference from other teams and I think we are starting to find that with the pace we play at.
“We are not the biggest team you will come across, but we will play quicker than you, we will be fitter than you and we will try and move the ball about a bit.
“I think we have found a point of difference in our game in respect of that and it has seemed to work in the last 10-12 weeks since the Ospreys away game. We have held on to that and we will hold on to that going into next season.”
I've really enjoyed working with Gordon... we have scored numerous tries off first phase attack and Gordon has been a big part of that...
