Newport Gwent Dragons head coach Kingsley Jones spoke to us ahead of Saturday’s Judgement Day derby against the Scarlets at the Principality Stadium.
With Wayne Pivac’s Scarlets dropping points in recent weeks, Dragons’ coach Jones insists that they’ll still be a force to be reckoned with on the weekend with the undoubted class of players they have in their squad. He said:
I know they’ve had a blip in the last few games, but they’re still a quality side and they’ve got some quality players. The back row is their strength, and they’ll be a challenge for us. They’ve got Liam back in the team doing well, Ken and the front-row, who’ve got a lot of experience, and Scott Williams coming back into the fold as well.
Jones remains quite cautious and doesn’t want to get ahead of himself, being the underdogs against the club poised for a top four finish. However, with Scarlets under more pressure for a win to keep them in the top four of the Guinness Pro12, Jones recognising this and hopes that it can be an opportunity to end the campaign on a high.
If we can do well in the first-half and put Scarlets under pressure after where they’ve been in recent weeks, we hope to go on and win, of course we do, but we know we’re facing a tough challenge. They’re not in the top four for nothing.
It’s about being in the game at half-time, and being in the game 20 minutes into the second-half. If that’s the scenario then, who knows. The Dragons have been strong in the last parts of games, our bench have come on and done well as well, which is important.
The pressure is on Scarlets, they’ve got to do well. For us, it’s an opportunity to end the season on a high and enjoy the occasion.
When asked about the whole spectacle of Judgement Day and how it’s now turned into a massive event for Welsh rugby, Jones claimed that it could affect the less experienced players in his Dragons team. Although, he remained optimistic that his side can deal with the fantastic occasion.
With the younger ones, there’s a danger of it becoming about the occasion and not about winning, but we have had a few years playing here now and the boys have had experience of that.
We’ve had Tyler, Hallam and Toby with experience at the stadium, so that’s good, but Scarlets do have a lot of players that are used to playing here so that is an advantage to them. It’s like we’ve got Toby in our team, but with some of them it’s like their home. But as long as our players turn up looking to win, and not just to celebrate the day.
It’ll surely be interesting to see what happens between the Dragons and the Scarlets at the Principality Stadium on Saturday.
