'We have a long history of injuries to developing players who are asked to play injured'
Dean Ryan believes Ross Moriarty’s decision to sign a new deal to stay at the Dragons is a significant success in the director of rugby’s battle to change the perception that players have to move on from the club to break into the Wales squad.
The Dragons are seen as poor relations to Scarlets, Ospreys and Cardiff and last week’s departure of Wales lock Cory Hill to the Blues appeared to confirm this. However, Ryan is adamant Hill’s departure doesn’t truly reflect the progress made by the Dragons in the last twelve months since the ex-England No8 took charge.
The club is enjoying better results and with Wayne Pivac having taken over from Warren Gatland as Wales coach, Ryan believes there is ample opportunity for a Dragons squad that features Moriarty, Aaron Wainwright, Leon Brown and Elliott Dee to impress and change the consensus outside Newport about the Rodney Parade-based outfit.
“Ross Moriarty was someone Wayne wasn’t sure about but we got Ross back to having the confidence that he is a first-choice player and that is the first step for us,” said Ryan to RugbyPass. “In Wales getting into the national team is integral, not only in terms of funding but in aspiration. The players have to believe the club can get them there. That has been our target over the year and our biggest challenge is to retain our current international group and make them believe.
“We have to make Taine Basham and Josh Reynolds into internationals so that the kids coming through believe the Dragons is the right place for them and the right place to play for Wales. There are always people who come and go but I’m really pleased that 90 per cent of our players are staying at the Dragons. Given where the club has been for the last five years that is a major achievement right from the chairman David (Buttress) down to everyone in the squad.
“Last season was right on the tipping point and if the opportunity to move had been there they would have gone. We haven’t really focussed a lot of where we are in the PRO14 (they are fifth in Conference A with five wins from 13). We have concentrated on what we’re trying to do and are we enjoying doing it. It has given everyone a new lease of life that makes them believe they can be successful. I love it here and have never enjoyed coaching more.
“It’s about making people better while in England if I didn’t think someone could get better then I would change them. Here the challenge is to make players in your system better. It is really rewarding when you don’t have that get-out of changing a player.”
The ex-Gloucester and Worcester director of rugby was tasked with revamping the pathway between schools rugby and the England national side at the RFU when he left to take over the Dragons nearly a year ago. Having crossed the Severn Bridge he is uniquely qualified to compare and contrast the English and Welsh systems at a time of crisis for World Rugby in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
With funding central to the Dragons plans, the current financial crisis is going to have a significant impact and force all the Welsh regions to ensure they are maximising their assets. “There are things that have been done by both organisations – Wales and England – that are simple lessons,” he suggested.
“It’s a unique challenge in Wales in terms of player numbers and there is so much that both countries could learn from each other, although people tend to go their own way. That can be frustrating at times. In the first year (in Wales) things have not run as smoothly as everyone would have wanted and there are tests still to come. There are elements which are still quite naive in terms of what they may look like in the future.
“This year there are a number of different criteria around how you arrive at your funding in Wales, which predominantly revolves around how many Test players you have. You get 80 per cent of the funding for those players (from the Welsh Rugby Union) and if you have ten of them then that is a significant slice.
“If you have just one then you’re a significant way behind everyone else. The mechanism for closing the gap is there and that is crucial, so you need to develop players to get into the Welsh squad to get the funding. While the 80 per cent is attractive, you don’t manage the movement of players (under the system). Ultimately if you look at central contracting models around the world, in New Zealand they ensure they can move people around.
“In Wales, they have gone down the road where they support central contracting but allow a player to choose where he goes. There are a whole host of problems that can come with that, including players in the same position. Managing movement is something that is essential in Wales to get the best out of a small group of players – that is just reality.
👍🤟👊 Have you heard the news…? He's here to stay!! 👏👏👏
▶️ https://t.co/m7CA54ZfGm#BringYourFire🔥 #AnnounceRoss pic.twitter.com/euLJHZn9Is
— Dragons RFC (@dragonsrugby) April 6, 2020
“If players are all at the same place then there isn’t a development system in place that supports the national team and it is part of the process. It’s probably too much to move to that right away and being efficient at development is fundamental for a small playing pool.
“In simple terms, England is better at physical conditioning and Wales is better at playing experiences up to the age of 18 or 19. However, the problem in Wales is the young players don’t transition as well because the conditioning is not very good and therefore the jump to the professional game is enormous. In our region, the resources at that level have been limited but the kids can play rugby and a lot of it.
“When you jump to the English system there is concern about the amount of game time players get up to the age of 23 and yet people have been locked in gyms for years – that is the starkest difference. Somewhere in the middle for both of them would probably be the perfect world. The Welsh challenge is to support development better in physical conditioning and that may be coloured by my own experiences in a region that hasn’t had a lot in terms of funding and development.
“I see a lot of people struggling to make the jump or are seriously injured because they have been accelerated without the training aids to make that move. We work in conflict all the time with development because of lack of resource and you have to try and marry the two together because it’s not a perfect world.
A RUGBYPASS EXCLUSIVE: 'The Dragons Lair' – Behind the scenes documentary
With exclusive access to Dragons at… https://t.co/yV1ID3jmUD
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 30, 2017
“We have a long history of injuries to developing players who are asked to play injured or are asked to play and lose confidence because they’re not ready. That comes back to a national governing body which has to be all over the development and support it in the right way with such a small resource group because you cannot afford those kinds of mistakes.”
Being able to ensure squad players get regular game time below regional level is a headache that Welsh rugby has yet to solve – the same is true in England where the second-tier Championship has been told its funding will be severely cut by the RFU.
Ryan explained: “Clubs are in a competitive league and people would prefer to have a 32-year-old who has been around the regions rather than a 21-year-old who is finding his way. That is not unique to Wales and is the same in the Championship in England.
“There are not many competitions that get second-tier rugby done well, with Mitre 10 in New Zealand being the strongest in the world which makes them the best at development. New Zealand control where the players are, amount of game time and the way they play. You could extrapolate that to Wales but that is such a big move and I’m not sure they have the influence or appetite to do it.
An investigation has been demandedhttps://t.co/kZg6qrYFu9
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 3, 2020
“At the moment in Wales, you have a national team that has had a huge amount of success and limited success recently for the regions. You have to look at how you make best use of the next 50 kids coming through. Ireland does it well with the schools system helping and they have control over their players and do move them around.
“The way we can help Wayne Pivac at the Dragons is to make people better. He is comfortable with the players we have and we have seen that with Leon Brown and Taine Basham who we have made better over the year. That is really important and I have been more relaxed about how were are getting to where we want to be. I wouldn’t be here without the chairman and he is right up there with the best I have worked with like Cecil Duckworth at Worcester.
“There have been three or four times where we have really had to stand strong and he has. David is incredibly engaging and passionate and I genuinely believe that he does for the right reasons, which is not something I can say about other people I have worked for. Getting the ownership of the Dragons back is still top of the agenda to give us control over the direction and that is a central part of why I joined the Dragons.”
Another step forward will have to wait, though, until whatever shortened season is played. That step is a new pitch with a surface having to cater for football and rugby, but it won’t be an artificial one: “The only people I have heard who like plastic pitches are CEOs who don’t have to run on them,” quipped Ryan.
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
24 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
24 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
24 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to comments