Things are stirring in the Dragons lair. It may not be a roar just yet, but there is a revival under way at Rodney Parade. Robin Davey, who has followed the fortunes of Gwent and Welsh rugby with distinction for decades, pinpoints the talent emerging from out east.
The late great Ray Gravell used to love saying west is best-and by and large he was right. But something is starting to stir in the east and, whisper it gently, the green shoots of recovery are starting to appear.
Now where would that be? In the unlikely arena of Rodney Parade to be precise, hitherto that abandon all hope ye who enter here stage.
For Newport Gwent Dragons have been perennial losers, bottom of the pile, the odd exception when they had the temerity to finish above rivals Cardiff Blues the season before last.
That really was a one-off though as the Dragons have invariably finished just above hapless Italian pair Zebre and Treviso in the Pro 12 table pretty much year on year.
But, hang on a minute, it could just be that a revival is on the cards, nothing earth shattering but a sharp improvement nonetheless.
For the Dragons have won their last four matches in all competitions at Rodney Parade while at the same time supplying more than just Taulupe Faletau (now sadly with Bath) to the Wales squad.
But more than that they also boast a whole series of really promising youngsters, some of whom are starting to make their presence felt on the bigger stage.
They have already provided Hallam Amos to the Wales team, though he has suffered the misfortune of successive damaged shoulders, each requiring an operation, keeping him out for several months at a time.
Centre Tyler Morgan has also been part of the Wales squad while in the recently completed Autumn series lock Cory Hill came from nowhere into the Wales squad and had his first start against Japan.
And when Rob Howley called in four of Wales’ most promising youngsters for training with the senior squad Keelan Giles was the most notable, but two of the other three were Dragons-prop Leon Brown and back row forward Harri Keddie.
Others who have attracted the attention of the Wales management are centre Jack Dixon, a player straight out of the Jamie Roberts mould, hooker Elliot Dee, who almost made the national squad last season, wing Ashton Hewitt, a real speedster similar to Giles and perhaps most of all former Wales under-20 captain Ollie Griffiths.
The flanker was outstanding in the Dragons’ victory over Edinburgh last Sunday with an impressive array of stats and is clearly destined to go a long way, though openside is a position where Wales are pretty well covered.
And the ages of these youngsters? Brown and Keddie are 20, Griffiths, Morgan and Dixon are 21, Amos, Hewitt and Dee are 22 while another who is starting to blossom, outside half Angus O’Brien, scorer of 17 points against Edinburgh, is also 22.
A whole array of young talent then, most showing every sign of developing into major players who could combine to give the Dragons a much brighter future.
What they need, of course, is a guiding hand, to be surrounded by a core of experienced players. Some are available for sure like seasoned South African trio Sarel Pretorius, Brok Harris and Rynard Landman, New Zealander Nick Crosswell another.
They could do with more and more quality too, but that kind of player costs big money-money the up-for-sale Dragons just don’t have. Investors are badly needed, we live in hope!
And the fear is that some of these promising youngsters will leave for sunnier climes if and when big clubs come in for them with big money offers which they are unable to resist.
But that’s another story. For now the Rodney Parade faithful, an ever decreasing band, have reason to be optimistic that better times are, indeed, beckoning
And just maybe Ray Gravell will be forced to acknowledge from his base up above the clouds somewhere that east really is best!
