Dragons v Edinburgh

Dragons v Edinburgh - Friday 10th Nov - KO 7.10PM

When I’ve suggested it to my colleagues that I was going to be betting on the Dragons tonight their initial reactions have been “Right, that’s me putting me mortgage on Edinburgh then” and ”That seals it. Edinburgh to win by 20” as in the past I have been far to over cautious and to be fair, I’ve cost them a couple of quid. Even the most amateur of gamblers knows never to be emotionally involved in a bet but I can’t help it. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.

It’s international weekend and obviously both teams are missing players, thanks to the quality of the Dragons squad we are only missing Morgan, Goughy, Cooper, Owen and Sweeney. Whilst Edinburgh are missing a whole plethora of players, mainly their backs and they have 6 apprentices making the squad – I can only guess that an apprentice is the same as an Academy player here in Wales. It has to be noted that double Lions No8, Simon Taylor is starting for the first time this season for Edinburgh and he’s sure to steady the youngsters but it also has to be noted that Charvis, Ringer and Bearman are in for the Dragons and have been playing out of their skins all season. Charvis and Ringer have been looked over for the Wales squad and I know they will be out to prove a couple of points tonight.

The Dragons squad is:

Newport Gwent Dragons: 15 Aled Thomas, 14 Gareth Wyatt, 13 Nathan Brew, 12 Ashley Smith, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Mike Hercus, 9 Alex Walker, 8 Joe Bearman, 7 Colin Charvis (c), 6 Jamie Ringer, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Andrew Hall, 3 Lee Harrison, 2 Kieran Crawford, 1 Adam Black.Replacements: 16 Ben Daly, 17 Jamie Corsi, 18 Bryn Griffiths, 19 Nic Fitisemanu, 20 Richard Fussell, 21 Craig Warlow, 22 Gareth Baber.

And it really is the strongest we can put out, Aled Thomas makes his first start of the season after injury and has been sorely missed, the Brew brothers are fit and well and the Academy lads playing have already been blooded more than once this season, which is more than can be said for their Edinburgh counterparts. My main worry is Mike Circus, he hasn’t had his kicking boots on at all these past few weeks but Craig Warlow is on the bench should we need to haul the Yank off. Ashley Smith is at 12 and he has impressed me with his brave ball carrying, he could really be one for the future. The secret will be to get the ball wide and I know the lads are more than capable of it.

The bench is also surprisingly strong with Nic, Craig and Gareth who normally start for the Dragons, it’s a whole lot stronger than the Edinburgh bench that’s for sure.
I also feel that Paul Turner has targeted this game, he rested a few vital players away at Leinster last weekend and he knows as well as everyone in Gwent just how important this is, we can either join the pack in the middle of table and keep in touch with Cardiff or we can be cast adrift with Munster and The Borders – it really is the biggest game of the season so far. I think we could get a bonus point win.

Coral are offering –7 on the Dragons but you can get as much as +11 with Edinburgh should you fancy them to turn us over. I don’t.

Recommendation Dragons –7 @ Corals