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The Challenge Cup's David and Goliath: 'If we manage to pull it off then it will be a great story'

(Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

Dean Ryan is facing one of the most difficult challenges of his coaching career next weekend – sending out a Dragons team that has never played together to face some of the world’s top players in their European Challenge Cup quarter-final at Bristol next Friday.

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Facing down Fijian superstar Semi Radradra, New Zealand full-back Charlie Piutau and a host of England internationals like Kyle Sinckler and Nathan Hughes was always going to be tough, but throw into the equation nearly three weeks without a game for the Dragons and the task becomes even more daunting.

Dragons put out a team including young talent and lost 41-20 to Scarlets on August 29 – the same day an understrength Bristol outfit was trounced 40-7 by Sale. Since then, the clubs have been following very different paths to their European quarter-final.

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RugbyPass brings you The Dragons Lair, the behind the scenes documentary on the Welsh PRO14 cub when coached by Bernard Jackman

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RugbyPass brings you The Dragons Lair, the behind the scenes documentary on the Welsh PRO14 cub when coached by Bernard Jackman

Dragons have been working hard to replicate game situations in training while Bristol, who have thumped Worcester 36-13 and Northampton 47-10, will add a third Gallagher Premiership outing to the mix when they take on in-form Wasps on Sunday in what is expected to be a run out for the team that will face the Welsh side.

Playing matches comes with a risk not only in terms of potential injury but also disciplinary setbacks and Bristol will be without captain Siale Piutau against the Dragons after he failed in his appeal against a three-game ban after being sent off against Worcester.

While the absence of the Bristol captain is of some solace to Dragons, the only concern Ryan has is ensuring his squad – which will include recent arrivals Jonah Holmes, Jamie Roberts and Nick Tompkins – checks in at Ashton Gate mentally and physically ready to cause an upset despite never having played together. Roberts could not be considered for the final two PRO14 games because he was self-isolating after testing positive for Covid-19.

Ryan, the Dragons director of rugby, refuses to be cowed by the enormity of the task and believes his players and coaching staff will learn a lot about themselves in this match which is a precursor to their Heineken Champions Cup campaign next season. 

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He told RugbyPass: “It’s unique because I have never gone into a European quarter-final just three games into the season! This match has great drama and narrative; they are fast becoming one of the main sides in the Gallagher Premiership with some of the world’s best players.

“We cannot emphasise how excited we are about the challenge and we are not stressing about it. We are one of the lowest budgets in the PRO14 and they are one of the biggest in the Premiership and that is a great narrative in itself.

“We only ever had two games after the restart that never really had anything on them (against Ospreys and Scarlets). We looked at being three weeks away from a quarter-final and the merits of going with an XV against Ospreys and Scarlets that flowed into Bristol and there were minimal benefits. 

“The challenge has been how to get the XV we want to face Bristol ready and we have done as much as we can to replicate that intensity in-house. We train pretty physically anyway and this is a pretty unique situation because we are probably getting twelve days preparation for the game and Bristol are getting four but they have continuity of performing. 

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“We are working to get continuity in an XV that people will not have seen yet because we didn’t think it was in the long term interests of the club. This team will not have played together and we have the gamble of some of our new quality players not having played. 

“If we had not taken the selection decisions then a significant number of youngsters at the club will not have played until January. In the PRO14 there is no Celtic Cup and so we have to get the balance of getting that right while also putting our best XV on the pitch to face Bristol. We don’t have the resources that Bristol have got.”

Bristol playing three matches while the Dragons are only training has at least given Ryan and his coaches more video to analyse about the strengths and weaknesses of Pat Lam’s high profile squad, although constant selection changes to deal with midweek matches have muddied the waters. 

“The Premiership at the moment is a series of mismatches,” said the former Gloucester and Worcester director of rugby. “You only occasionally see firsts vs firsts and we have seen games where they have had an easy stroll and also a tougher time against Exeter.

“I have had some tough conversations because some selections have been done on a bit of reputation because it is a one-off game. It is not done on eight weeks of form with everyone getting a chance. This is pretty early in our journey but we won’t be going into the match undercooked. 

We are excited to pitch ourselves against Bristol and of course it will be difficult but there are so many players who haven’t faced this kind of challenge and there are times when you feel paternal and think ‘that will be tough for them’. But you cannot hide them from the excitement and if we manage to pull it off then it will be a great story.”

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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