Boss Dai Flanagan has urged his Dragons to be disciplined and produce the right response when they head to Johannesburg to tackle Emirates Lions this Saturday (kick-off 3.05pm UK time).
The Men of Gwent suffered a heavy defeat to Hollywoodbets Sharks in Durban to kick-off the club’s South African tour and now face the prospect of altitude at Emirates Airline Park.
Flanagan has been pleased by the attitude of his players this week in training as they look to bounce back in the BKT United Rugby Championship Round 7 clash.
But he has pinpointed the need for a disciplined display and a quick start as crucial to success as they look to repay the faith of supporters.
“We’ve had to rip up the schedule that was planned this week and restructure a lot earlier,” admitted Flanagan.
“We needed to make sure we didn't just say ‘we're going to get better’ because last 20 minutes (against Sharks) was tough to take for me, players, fans, and everyone affiliated with the club. We can’t accept that.
“We go into games with themes. You can't give every player every decision to make, but you can have a theme on what you need to do to be in the game.
“We saw that for 40 or 50 minutes - then we didn't see anywhere near that theme.
“A big one was not giving Sharks anything to feed on. We fed them and you can see in the last 20 minutes of the game, we gave them opportunity after opportunity.
“We've got to protect ourselves - we can't afford to just keep giving because the score mounts up. We are out here to represent everyone associated with us and we can't afford that to happen.”
Dragons will train against the University of Cape Town this week to get high class preparation as Flanagan urges his players to grasp the opportunity in Johannesburg.
“We need discipline to stick with what we say we're going to do,” he said.
“Whether that turns into a 10-point loss or a one-point win, we've got to be disciplined.
“You know the challenge when you come to South Africa,” he added.
“They try to blow you away in the first 20 minutes, they know the heat is tough in that period. But it's the same for everyone.
“You watch the African teams when they come to Europe, but they are a completely different team at home. It's like it's a different sport out here with the speed, the hard grounds, the athletes.
“You compare the Lions game against Zebre to everything they've played in Europe, and it is completely different.
“They know it’s going to be warm, and they're going to try and throw the ball around. It'd be nice if we could do that instead.”
We don't just say ‘we're going to get better’ because last 20 minutes was tough to take for me, players, fans, and everyone affiliated with the club... We can’t accept that...
