Dragons look to test players

The Regional Premiership Select XV sides will enter the British & Irish Cup for the second season in October, with some crunch fixtures in store.

The Cardiff Blues and the Ospreys Premiership Select XVs start their respective campaigns at home to English Exiles sides, the Blues to London Scottish and the Ospreys to new English Championship side London Irish. They then have long journeys to Jersey (Blues) and Cornish Pirates in Round Two before home and away ties against Irish provinces Ulster A (Blues) and Connacht in December which will prove crucial in the Pool standings.

The Dragons start away to Mike Rayer’s Bedford Blues before returning to host Ealing Trailfinders, who they also play in a pre-season friendly, while the Scarlets Premiership Select XV launch their campaign away to Nottingham before returning home to face Richmond in Round Two. The Gwent Region faces Yorkshire Carnegie away then home in December while the Scarlets travel to Leinster A before welcoming them back to the Scarlets Region before Christmas

The Dragons got off to the best start of the four Welsh sides n last season’s competition, beating Connacht away and Jersey at home before going down to Doncaster twice and Jersey away to end their hopes of progressing further. Dragons High Performance Manager Huw Bevan said, “The British & Irish Cup provides an excellent opportunity to judge players in a slightly higher standard of competition to their other rugby.

“James Chapron will head up the coaching of the side again and he developed a very good working relationship with our Premiership clubs last year, hopefully they will provide the same level of support again this year.

“The games will certainly provide Premiership players with aspirations to play regional rugby and an opportunity to demonstrate their skills. We’ll certainly be looking out for players who are keen to make that step up to professional rugby.

“All three of our Pool opposition are very strong teams who will do just that and playing Ealing in a pre-season game should give us a very good guide to the standard we can expect. Bedford first up are very consistent performers, Mike Rayer runs a very organised and well drilled operation but we’re expecting a stern test in all the games. We intend to play some games at Premiership clubs again if conditions allow, but if not, we have the 3G at Ystrad Mynach to fall back on.”