Dragons seek to finding foreign inspiration

Mar 29 2008 by Simon Thomas, Western Mail

THE Dragons believe their quest to sign southern hemisphere stars to follow in the footsteps of former Rodney Parade heroes Gary Teichmann and Percy Montgomery has taken a significant step forward.

Coach Paul Turner and chief executive Gethin Jenkins have just returned from a whistle-stop, four-day trip to New Zealand where they sounded out a number of potential Super 14 signings.

And they are now optimistic of completing a couple of high-profile deals to secure the services of leaders in the mould of Teichmann and Blues skipper Xavier Rush.

Such signings would help soften the blow of losing key forward Michael Owen to Saracens, with fellow Welsh international Ceri Sweeney also expected to move on to the Blues.

During their stay in New Zealand, Turner and Jenkins took in the Super 14 match between the Waikato Chiefs and South African side the Blues Bulls, as well as holding talks about various possible recruits.

“I think it was a valuable and worthwhile trip,” said Jenkins.

“We got some positive feedback on various players who want to come over and play in Wales.

“It’s important that we look to sign some leaders to add to our squad, but we need to make sure they are the right players and that’s what that trip did for us.

“If you look what Gary Teichmann did to Newport a few years ago, what Xavier Rush has done to the Blues, the same with Todd Blackadder at Edinburgh and Jim Williams at Munster, they were the right players for that team at that time.

“We had some very positive conversations and talks and hopefully we can progress matters as a result of the trip. We would like to move it along as quickly as possible.

“Until the ink is dry on the contract, you never know if you are successful, but we remain positive and optimistic.”

Turner added, “We always felt it would be better to state our intent and travel over there to see people in person.

“We have got to be ambitious. The organisation have done that with the redevelopment of the ground and we had to change direction a little bit in terms of replacing some players that we have lost.

“It’s never over until they have signed on the dotted line, but we can only go through the process and we are doing that.

“Going back to the Teichmann era, it was pretty fortunate at the time that he got left out of his national team.

“These days players are all signed up with their union and Super 14 franchise. We’ve got to wade through all that, plus work permit law and qualifications, but we’ve been pretty robust in that.”

Potentially, there could be exciting times ahead for the Dragons, with overseas stars on the way, the redevelopment of Rodney Parade set to be completed by 2010 and the possibility of a ground share with Bristol, who are looking for a temporary base while the Memorial Stadium is radically revamped.

Jenkins said, “We are building a strong foundation here and we are looking to take this region forward. Us going to New Zealand is part of that.”

For the Dragons, the immediate concern is tomorrow’s Magners League game at home to Glasgow, with Colin Charvis returning after eight weeks out with knee trouble to skipper the side from the back row.

Lock Luke Charteris is also fit again, while prop Rhys Thomas is back from Wales duty, but flanker Richard Parks, wing Martyn Thomas and fly-half Sweeney are out injured.

“It’s a vitally important game for us,” said Turner, who is looking for his team to take a big step towards Heineken Cup qualification.