The news that Ceri Sweeney and Michael Owen are off at the end of the season makes the job of Dragons’ boss Paul Turner even tougher. He spoke to www.rucked.com
What’ve you made of the season so far?
I think we started off really well but then when we came up against some real strong squads such as the Blues, we struggled a bit in some areas. We’ve probably been a bit of a victim of injuries too, but overall I’d say we’re about par with where we thought we’d be. Now though, we need to kick on towards the end of the season.
How do you rate your European experience?
I always said that when you’re in Europe you need a strong squad. You need strength in depth so that you can rest players accordingly. When we got to Christmas we’d doing quite well, but then Europe came back in and took its toll on us. People tend to forget that we qualified as the 23rd side and that goes unnoticed, only Harlequins came in after us on a wildcard. We were always going to give it a go and be competitive but it probably was a little bit too much for us.
Would you have approached the season any differently?
I wouldn’t have done anything different. But it’s no secret that we tend to introduce a lot of youngsters and it’s a hard learning curve for them – particularly in the Heineken Cup. Even in the EDF Energy Cup, games against the likes of Gloucester, Wasps and Newcastle are high-level fixtures. Players either sink or swim…
An assessment of the EDF Energy Cup campaign…
I thought we did quite well in the EDF. We were one play away from winning Newcastle and beating Wasps, and we were beating Gloucester right into injury time. But you’ve got to look at the strength of those squads – Gloucester rested 14 players that they didn’t even bring down with them!
How much of a blow is it to lose Michael Owen?
We don’t like losing good players but we were well aware it could happen and were making plans for it, the same applies with Ceri Sweeney…
Have you got replacements for them?
We’ve made plans and we’re looking but yeah we’re looking to bring in players with that X-Factor. We want to bring in another eight of quality and likewise a quality ten, and we’re also out there looking for a quality lock…
Who are looking at?
Well, we’re ranging from Ali Williams to Dan Carter – take them as a barometer!
Do you think it’s a bit against the concept of regions for players to move within the regions?
There’s a couple of ways look at it, in a negative way or if you can look at people like Ian Gough. By moving to Ospreys he’s probably put two years on his career because he’s with a balance in terms of game time, whereas here he would’ve been overplayed.
Is it disappointing to lose players that way though?
No I’m pretty pragmatic about it, it gives me an opportunity, if I get timing right, to bring in quality players and replace the quality I’ve lost. The reality is sometimes you’ve got to try and convince new players to come to the region but that’s my job. My ambition now is to be in a position to take a really competitive team to the developed stadium in three years’ time.
So that’s the aim then?
I’ve put a plan together and pout it to the current board, we’re going to try and bring in a couple of high level players while still trying to develop young kids. But it’s all down to finance, I don’t have a magic wand, so we’ll be working with the figures – we do feel we’re doing a good job developing Welsh talent though.
There’s not many Dragons in the Welsh squad, how do you feel about that?
On current form it’s pretty fair.
Which Dragons do you think could make their mark with Wales?
There’s some players like Richard Parks on the openside, Dan Lydiate at six, Luke Charteris when he gets fit, obviously Rhys Thomas, then perhaps Rhodri Gomer-Daveis in the centre, and Kevin Morgan. In a couple of years time, who else could be competing…
Can the Dragons ever realistically compete?
I’ll try my best, I’m a local guy and I understand what the region is all about and I’ll do my best to try and encourage players to stay and others to join. But as I said earlier I’ve got no magic wand, I just like to think I’m the right guy with the right motives…
So what do you make of what’s going on with Wales?
It’s all changed in three weeks hasn’t it? There’s been a complete turnaround and credit must go to the guys in charge, they’ve done what everyone wanted them to do and destroyed the egos within the set up and banged the table now and again.
Have you had much contact with Gatland?
He’s only just taken office, but I’ve spoken to him two or three times. He seems like a quality guy, he hasn’t had a lot to do with us yet, but he’s had the Six Nations to deal with straight away. I fully expect him to be involved more though…
He seems to be doing a good job…
They’re not trying to rewrite the book, I think the [Welsh] coaches straight after the Grand Slam have all been affected by the Grand Slam. There was the feeling that the players were more in control, they’ll deny that of course, but what we probably needed was for these guys to come in and crack the whip where it needed to be cracked.
Can Wales win the Grand Slam?
I don’t think that’s the important issue, it’s about a squad to compete with the Tri Nations’ teams. Let’s be honest about it, that’s the yardstick we need to be using. We have been able to compete with New Zealand, South Africa and Australia for a number of years.
Is this side good enough to do that?
It needs a lot of work still but these are the guys [Gatland and Edwards] that are qualified to answer that question. I don’t know the answer because I’m not involved, but we’ve had a good start and Wales is a good place to be when Wales are winning!