Coach Dale MacLeod has praised the ‘excitement machine’ Rio Dyer as the wing ace prepares for his 100th game for Dragons RFC.
Dyer will hit the major milestone this Friday night as the Men of Gwent host USA Perpignan in the opening pool stages of the new EPCR Challenge Cup season.
Homegrown ace Dyer is sure of a huge ovation as he leads out Dragons and MacLeod has lavished praise on the maturity and continued development of the Wales wing.
“Rio is Rio – he’s an excitement machine,” smiled MacLeod. “He's matured massively, even in the 12 months I've been here, and you can see that his game's growing.
“His high ball work on kick-off, his ability to go and get the ball back for us.
“What we're probably lacking now is a bit of ball in his hands. The more we can get the ball in his hands in space, the more he's going to rip teams to bit.
“He’s really excited by the opportunity in front of him,” he added. “He's still a young man, when you think of the number of games he's played.
“I was chatting to him about it, and I think his first two or three seasons, he was injured for a lot of it, didn't get to play much.
“He's healthy, which is good for him, because the more he plays, the better he gets.
“I'm excited to see him get the century and I hope he gets a few meat pies on Friday night.”
I'm excited to see him get the century and I hope he gets a few meat pies on Friday night...
