Dragons Development’s 11-try win against Scarlets on Saturday saw the Men of Gwent put out a side with the perfect melting pot of first team regulars, academy talent and Super Rygbi Cymru regulars.
One of the later was winger Lloyd Lewis who was part of Dragons’ Academy as a youngster but has since been a menace for opposition defences in the SRC and it’s previous iteration of the Welsh Premiership with Pontypool and since the summer of 2022, Newport.
On Saturday, the 28-year-old former sevens specialist took advantage of the opportunity to switch the famous Black and Amber jersey of Newport for that of his parent region.
“It’s class, I grew up with the Dragons in the Academy and I didn’t think this would happen,” said Lewis.
“I’m 28 now, I didn’t think I’d have this opportunity. I haven’t been at the club for seven or eight years and I’m just really grateful to the coaches and Jonathan Westwood [Head of Recruitment] for getting me in, it’s been class!
“There was a lot of chat during the week about what these opportunities mean because there was a mixture of players ages, goals and it was a shop window really and we all acknowledged how big an opportunity it was for all of us.”
Lewis was joint top try scorer in the Indigo Premiership last season with 17 but had to wait until the second half to open his account for Dragons on Saturday, benefitting from Wales under 20s fly-half Harri Ford’s pinpoint crosskick for his first before making it a brace with an interception from 60 metres out.
“It’s a team effort to be honest,” said Lewis. “It was brilliant to get those tries but we all gelled really well. It was good to see guys like myself, David Richards, Joel Mahoney, there’s loads of us from Super Rygbi Cymru and it shows there’s a proper pathway there which is great.
“It’s a great feeling to score tries and I wasn’t expecting them as they came late on in the game.
“We scored a load of tries and it just shows the talent that’s in the group - tries of first phase, tries on turnover ball which showed we had a complete game.
“Considering we hadn’t played with a lot of the boys before, training this week was a good atmosphere and it showed.”
Training wasn’t the only place with a great atmosphere as the Gwent faithful turned out in force to support their side, with a large portion of the crowd taken up by Lewis’ nearest and dearest.
“The crowd was class,” said Lewis. “The club sorted us out. All of my family, my Bampa, my Mam, my siblings were all up in the posh bit in the box and they were loving that.
“It was a lovely touch and a few of my friends came down so it was a great day for me and one I will remember for a while for sure.”
It was good to see guys like myself, David Richards, Joel Mahoney, there’s loads of us from Super Rygbi Cymru and it shows there’s a proper pathway there which is great...
