Young centre Joe Westwood has revealed how he is bidding to play without pressure as he establishes himself in the midfield for Dragons RFC.
Former Wales Under-20 ace Westwood has been involved throughout this season as he settles into senior rugby.
The 21-year-old – who now has 13 appearances for the Men of Gwent – scored his first try in the home defeat to Benetton Rugby.
And he has spoken ahead of the trip to Galway to face Connacht in the BKT United Rugby Championship on Saturday of how he is looking to build himself into the side.
“Playing every week has been big for me, just the confidence it gives you and getting more comfortable in playing professional rugby,” said Westwood.
“The more I've played, the more comfortable I'm around the boys. It's just enjoying playing and not putting any pressure on myself.
“Just doing all of pre-season properly, because over the last few years I haven’t really been able to do one, and being with the boys and around the other centres has been big, to learn off them and try to improve each game.
“I want to play 13. We have a lot of young centres here and I’m just trying to keep that jersey for as long as I can.
“I like the defensive challenges of playing there,” he added. “It is tough place to defend, but I enjoy that, and then you got the difference between ball playing and the physical side of the game. I enjoy both.
“I also enjoy facing the top players. You can see where you are and really test yourself.
“I’m just trying to improve every game, rather than focusing too much on mistakes. To try and just keep on improving little areas all the time and not put too much pressure on myself.”
Dragons will face Connacht and tricky weather conditions this weekend in Ireland and Westwood admits Dai Flanagan’s men are aware of the challenge ahead.
He said: “We're certainly looking forward to it. We know what the conditions can be like out there. “It’s going to windy, but it's also a plastic pitch, so it could be a fast game as well.
“They like to throw the ball around, like Benetton, and can go from anywhere so that is something we’re aware of.
“Performances are improving. We started the season positively and obviously we haven’t had the results the last few games, but we are improving as a group.
“We are focusing on the little things that are taking us out for games now, and we just keep on improving and look forward to the challenge at the weekend.
“We'll have to be more disciplined in Connacht,” he concluded.
“Last week (against Benetton) that cost us. We also need to stop giving teams easy ins into the game.
“We'll go out and play our own game. Conditions might be poor, but we will try and stick to our game plan as much as we can.
“We’ve got to show our intent. We're going away from home, and we've been at Rodney Parade the last three games.
“We are going to have to go out there and front up ourselves rather than rely on the crowd getting us through games.”
We’ve got to show our intent. We're going away from home, and we've been at Rodney Parade the last three games. We are going to have to go out there and front up ourselves...
