Turner ready to extend stay with Dragons

Jan 14 2008 by Phil Blanche, Western Mail

DRAGONS Paul Turner last night revealed he hopes to sign a new contract with the Welsh region this week.

Turner is out of contract at the end of the season, but admitted current negotiations with regional bosses have been extremely positive.

And, despite Saturday’s first-half thrashing to London Irish in the Heineken Cup, Turner confirmed he is close to putting pen to paper on a new deal to remain at Rodney Parade.

Turner revealed, “Talks are still on-going, but they have been very positive so far and everything should be sorted out by the end of the week.

“I’ve said to the board I will come back then, but the sooner the contract is signed the better because we need to start planning for the future.

“Recruitment now is vital to bring in players for next season and I want to keep hold of some of my players who will be out of contract. It will also enable me to make some decisions.

“I’ve not looked elsewhere because I’m under contract and I love working for my own region.”

Turner will not find watching a re-run of the opening 20 minutes on video easy viewing – and it forced the Dragons chief to turn on the half-time ‘hairdryer’ at the Madejski Stadium.

Pool 1 table-toppers Irish turned on their attacking magic for the second time against the Gwent region following the 45-17 thumping in the reverse fixture.

It may have taken the Exiles slighter longer to gain their all-important fourth try than in November, but the Guinness Premiership outfit’s work was finished by the 36th minute as they led 29-7.

Hat-trick hero No 8 Richard Thorpe began the try-scoring on 12 minutes before Eoghan Hickey, Shane Geraghty and Peter Hewat all galloped through the Dragons defence to touch down for Irish by the interval.

And Turner confirmed he blasted his troops in the dressing room after one of the most inept first-half performances under his tenure.

“Without eight or nine internationals, it was always going to be a tough ask,” he said.

“But I was disappointed with our collective defending in the first half.

“It lacked energy, passion and everything we had spoken about before the match. So I flew off the lid at half-time.

“We were representing our region on foreign soil and I had to question what some of my players were doing.

“I’ve never had to do it before, but some of the players looked like they weren’t interested and didn’t want to be there.

“The team-talk galvanised a few of them.”

The Dragons travelled across the Severn Bridge with a lengthy injury list, including Wales internationals Colin Charvis, Rhys Thomas, Luke Charteris and Kevin Morgan.

But Turner insisted that, even taking into account the loss of so many experienced campaigners, the ease at which Irish scored their tries was alarming as the Dragons failed to master the art of basic defending.

He added, “It’s simple. If you don’t defend at any level, you will get punished.

“But in the Heineken Cup against top-quality players on a fast track, you can’t be defensively soft.

“We know we defend well in the wet, but on firmer pitches we’ve got to up the ante. We made too many basic errors, both in defence and attack, and it was a huge lesson for us.

“But in the second half we got back to what the Dragons can do.”

Second-half tries from Ben Daly, Gareth Wyatt and Ceri Sweeney was backed up Richard Fussell’s opportunist score on the half-hour to secure a losing bonus point, but it was too little, too late.

But, on a dismal afternoon in Reading, there was a small chink of light at the end of the tunnel for Turner, who will have some of his stars back for the final pool match, at home to French giants Perpignan on Saturday.

Turner said, “We’re hopeful of having Kevin Morgan, Rhys Thomas, Colin Charvis, Steve Jones and Andy Williams back.

“We need a performance because our supporters have been great and are extremely loyal.

“It will be difficult as Perpignan are putting a big effort into their European campaign, but we have to muscle up.”