Dragons Lair: View from the opposition: Ulster

The Dragonslayer Podcast is joined by Ulster supporter Ian Fussell to discuss the Six Nations and Wales' defeat to Ireland. They discuss Wales' performance, their defensive abilities, and the missed opportunities for Ireland. They also talk about the young talent in the Welsh team and the need for improvement in certain positions. They believe that patience is needed for Wales to progress and that Warren Gatland is the best coach for the job. They also discuss Ireland's chances of winning the Grand Slam and the potential challenges from England and Scotland. Welcome to the Dragonslayer Podcast, your home of all things Dragons RFC and Bloodbeen region. I'm Jamie, hope you're all doing well. Now unfortunately Gavin can't be with us this week due to work commitments, but I'm not on my own. I am joined by a guest for our View from the Opposition podcast. Now Dragons are away to Ulster on Saturday night, and to help us preview that game and chat to Survivors Rugby, we have Ulster supporter Ian Fussell. Ian, welcome to the pod. Hi Jamie, thank you very much for inviting me on, first time, so I'm looking forward to it. No problem, thank you very much for joining me tonight. So before we talk about Ulster and the Dragons, I thought we'd start with the Six Nations and look back on Wales's defeat to Ireland. So it's fair to say it was a plucky performance by Wales, but it did finish Ireland 31, Wales 7. Ireland's bonus point try coming in the 81st minute, and now Wyn keeps Ireland's Grand Slam hopes on track, but for Wales it is unfortunately played free, lost free with France up next in Cardiff. So Ian, another win for Ireland, looking on course for that Grand Slam, and what did you make of the game? It was a tougher game than I was envisaging, I thought it was a lot better Welsh performance than the previous two games that they'd played. They were under the pump quite a bit in the first half, and defended so very, very well. I made the comment to a couple of people that that's one thing that you'll get from any Welsh team, is their ability to defend, and I think that old Sean Edwards, that stuff even though he's gone, there's still a bit of that tree and root still there within the Welsh squad. So I'm very impressed by that, I know in saying that I thought Ireland could have racked up maybe another couple of scores in the first half, I thought at half time wasn't really a reflection on the overall game, but by full time I was damn pleased to have picked up that bonus point in overtime at the end of the game. So Welsh were a bit unlucky in a couple of the decisions, I thought Wainwright had scored a try. Yes, it looked like a try didn't it? It very much did, and surprised that it wasn't pulled up by the TMO for a wee look. Obviously refs can miss those things very easily, it happens in the blink of an eye, he'd maybe looked at something else just at that particular time. I know he was given a penalty at that stage, I think he was, his arm out, but it was a bad miss, and probably whilst playing the second half you probably deserved a second score. I'm not totally convinced on the first score, but it stood so there's not a lot that can be said for it. It was a strange decision, it didn't look terribly bad, I don't know what he was talking about changing his bind, you see that in every game I suppose, that sort of thing. But anyway, it was given. From a Welsh point of view, there's some cracking young fellas coming through there, they're going to be around for a long time, and Warren Gatland, probably the best man to pull everything back together for Wales, been very rocky since this time last year when he took over again, and you're going through a lot of players retiring, and the well-documented infighting I suppose you could call it, which almost culminated in a strike. So all those things can't have been good for Wales going into the World Cup, but it's nice to see some progress I think since then, and certainly a few players going to take Wales well into the future, and we should see them back fighting for championships in the not-too-distant future. I was going to ask you about that actually, and so one of the questions I asked you was, from an outsider point of view, what have you made of Wales? Because the cold hard facts are that we've played 3-0 in this year's tournament, that was our 10th loss in 11 Six Nations games. But with the young talent that is coming through, the likes of Cameron, Alex Mann, David Jenkins, who I think is doing a fantastic job leading the team, do you believe there's reasons to be cheerful going forward for Wales, even if we do eventually win the wooden spoon? That game against Italy does look like it could be a wooden spoon decided. Do you feel there's reason to be cheerful from a Welsh point of view? Well first of all, I wouldn't fear the wooden spoon, Jamie, if I was Wales, because I think that's just roughly where you're at at the moment. Italy's improvement, and just where the Welsh sit, means that could be one of the best games of the championship. But without doubt, I do see that there has to be improvement. I mean, if you take where all the teams are, we'll leave the French out of it at the minute because I'm not sure just what's happening there, but Ireland come back from the World Cup probably unlucky not to have gone a bit further in that one-off game against New Zealand with a very, very settled squad, able to soak up that change from sixth and leading. And that's really the only change, a couple of guys who forced their way into the squad, so from that point of view, very settled. England on the rebuild, not sure just that Borthwick knows his best team or his best plan to get the best out of his team, and we'll just have to wait and see what happens there. Scotland a bit like ourselves, well settled, good side, and then you have Wales who are, well, it's the same, I think, pretty settled, although able to bring in a couple of new guys who look very exciting. But Wales basically haven't started from the ground and come up. Some of the players I don't think are long-term international class. One or two, particularly maybe front row guys, so you're going to have to look, I think, to strengthen in that area. The backs, the Welsh backs, ever since I was a boy watching rugby, I've always been excited watching Welsh teams play because their backs just play with a gear band, and you've got a couple of young fellas in there. The full-back, Costolo at 10, those guys are really there for the future. They look immense players, and I think Wales can build on that. Obviously, you've got settled guys like your own Rio Dier. British Lyon, I wouldn't be surprised if he goes on the tour next year, would not surprise me in the least. Then in the forwards in particular, you've got guys like, again, your own Wainwright, a fantastic player, had a super game on Saturday, wouldn't look out of place in any international team. I don't know an awful lot about your new captain, but he looks like nearly a clone of Alan Wynne-Jones, just purely for his work rate. There's no flashiness about him, but he's a grafter, and every team needs a grafter. I think you've got the basis of a team. A lot of where you will end up in four years' time at the next World Cup will depend on what you're going to bring through in the positions where you're maybe not just as strong. I think front row is one of those things where you need to be improving quite a bit. Yeah, absolutely. I think coming into this tour, we knew that tight end prop in particular was going to be an issue and a fly half. We've got to stick with these young guys, we've got to stick with Costello, we've got to stick with Owen Lloyd, there's going to be a bit of pain. We don't have that experienced general at 10 anymore, we haven't got Dan Biggar, we haven't got Gareth Banscombe. There is going to be a lot of pain, I think, in the next two or three years, but I do believe that this Wales team can progress, and the young talent will develop, but I think the Welsh public, and Gatland did mention this, but he should have mentioned it before the tournament started, rather than saying, we can absolutely win this tournament. I just think it requires patience from everyone, doesn't it? Yeah, I think he did. I think Gatland actually did say, in his own inimitable way, not to be expecting too much from the team, but I suppose like any other coach, he's going to have the guys as fired up as he possibly can, and you have to say that you think they're in with a chance of winning every time that you take the pitch, and if you didn't do that, you'd be better off working behind the bar somewhere, wouldn't you? So, where do you rate Warren Gatland as a coach then, Ian? Do you think quite highly of him? As a coach, purely, yes, I rate him fairly high. As a person, I've never really taken to him, but look, he has proved himself time and time again, and he's been at the very top, and won at the very top, so he's got Six Nations under his belt, he's got Lions wins under his belt, so his record will stand the test of time for me. And yeah, no one better to take that young Welsh side forward. I just can't think of anyone else in Welsh rugby at the moment that would be capable of doing that. So, fingers crossed that things go well, because we all need a successful Welsh side going forward. Absolutely. So, in terms of Ireland then, Ian, England next in Twickenham and then Scotland in Dublin. To be honest, can you see any of those teams stop in Ireland? I mean, this is a procession now, isn't it? Ireland for the Grand Slam, or can you see England, perhaps, or Scotland putting a span in the works, do you think? Look, at any level of sport, Jamie, and particularly at international level, you can never say that you're 100% sure of anything. You know the bounce of the ball, you know an accidental head contact, and you've lost a man, or you've been made look silly because the ball has bounced past you and somebody's latched onto it. So, all those things have to be taken into account. On current form, Ireland should win both those games. The nagging thing for me with England is, England are always hard to beat in Twickenham. They don't lose too many. And they've had our measure over the years, although I don't think that this Ireland team and this Ireland squad fear going anywhere now, having won basically at every top stadium in the world now. So, not in the least bit worried in that respect. A wee bit, maybe, in that we don't know what Northwark is doing with that England team at the moment. And, you know, someday he's going to put a 15 out. That's going to click. And, you know, it could well be next weekend. We don't know. I hope not. You know, it's just, it's a big unknown. But, going by what I've seen over the first three games, I don't think Ireland need worry too much about them. Scotland, I don't think they're the best. I don't think they're the best that they can be. And I'm not sure that Townsend is a man to get the best out of them. I still think that their forward pack lack something, whether it's just the doggedness or a bit of something. They've got good individual players, but they tend to come up short a wee bit. They've backs that some other teams would die for. And, you know, they've cast the net pretty wide to get a team capable of competing at the highest level. And, you know, fair play to them. But, I'm particularly coming to Dublin. I don't think that they'll, obviously they'll give us a game, but I don't think they're good enough to beat us in Dublin. You know, we went last year, we went to Edinburgh in the correspondence fixture and the Scots were going pretty well at that stage. We blew them away. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. You've got a good record over Scotland as well, haven't you? And, you know, they always seem to win. I can't remember the last time Scotland beat Ireland, but it seems like a while ago now. They just seem to have that mix over them, don't they? Yeah, it is. It is quite a few years. I was actually at the game with a Scottish friend who came over for that game. That was one where Richie Gray sidestepped, I think, Rob Kearney to get through and a try ensued. But, yeah, that's probably 10 or 11 years ago now, I would have thought. That's what I'm saying. I think it's up here with the Scots because, as I say, they have the players, but that's something that just is holding them back. And, as I say, it may well be that it will take a different coach to get them that last step, that they're really capable of going out and being favourites against some of the bigger teams. And before we move on to us today, what have you made of the Six Nations as a whole, Eddie? And have you enjoyed this tournament from an entertainment point of view? You're going to be enjoying it. I love the Six Nations. I always have. I'll sit down on a Saturday morning and get myself ready and I'll watch everything that's going on. I just think the whole thing is so well put together. I have a few issues maybe with television presentations and commentary teams and pundits and things. But sure, that gives us something to vent when we go on social media then afterwards. But no, the whole thing still excites me. I just think it's a tremendous competition. Some of the rugby is good, some of the rugby is maybe not as good. But, look, at the end of the day, it's international rugby and we don't see enough of it, I think, to do some more. Yeah, absolutely. Okay then, Ian, let's talk Elsta. That's why you're here. So, let's be honest about it. It has been a disappointing season so far by Elsta standards. Dan McFarlane has departed after disappointing results. Let's be honest, that post-match interview after the Ospreay's defeat probably didn't help matters today. I know that you were quite angry about that, looking at your social media posts. So, what are your thoughts on the McFarlane accident, Ian? Do you feel it was the right decision by the club? Yes, I do think it was the right decision. We have been questioning for a good few games now, we've been questioning what was going on. Right from the very start of the season, really, you know, there was the early part of the season where he was blooding youngsters and we thought, you know, this can only be good. And, you know, we were, I suppose, prepared for, you know, a few effing performances. But as we got into, sort of, towards the European stuff, and he was putting out what was supposedly the strongest team, just the performances just weren't coming. We had the, you know, we had the issue of the game against Racing, where our forwards scored a couple of tries from five-metre tapping goals. And, you know, it sort of came out afterwards that it was really player-led, that the players made those decisions. And, you know, we're seeming to get, you know, sort of thinking to ourselves, I suppose, that, you know, there was something wrong. Communications between coaches and players just didn't seem to be what it should be. We know there was a bit of history over the past couple of seasons where some players were frozen out. And I don't want to go into that, but I do know at a personal level, I do know a couple of those instances. And really, that's not what you would be expecting from senior management. And it just went on. And then he sort of disappeared for a couple of weeks where he was sending out Dan Soper to do pre- and post-match interviews. And then it sort of culminated with that post-match interview on the Sunday against the Ospreys. And yes, I was very, very disappointed with that. I can accept defeat. I can accept defeat sometimes. Not very well, but I had no issues with the defeat. There were maybe issues with the manner of it from a team and players' point of view, but there were no issues with the referee at all and for Dan McFarlane to come out and, first of all, more or less blame the referee. And then I thought, pretty disappointingly, sort of brushed off the questions from the young lady who was doing the interview. And that was just not how I wanted my club to be reflected. No, that's fair. So how would you look back then on Dan McFarlane at the end? Do you think it was a success overall? Or how would you look back on his time at Ulster? Well, I think when he took over, we were in a pretty poor place. And probably even poorer place than what we are now. And a couple of years after that, he had done very, very well. It's hard to put a sort of finger on it, but a lot of people would say the game against Leinster, where we lost the 19-point lead at half-time, was probably, to coin a phrase, a straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. And things just went awry after that. And it's one of those situations where if something's going to go wrong, it's going to go wrong at Ulster. We had that debacle about the pitch. That didn't help. Apparently, when we went to steal, we had players going in two different directions to try and get... Very amateurish stuff. And you just wonder how much the financial pressures at the club have impacted on the playing side. Why were we travelling the way we travelled? And I know some of the answers, but why did we allow our pitch to become frozen when everyone knew what the weather forecast was? There's loads of questions that you can ask. But I think for the first two years of Dan's tenure, things were really looking up. We lost gnarly against the Stormers in that URC semi-final, beating them basically in overtime. That was getting us possibly a home final. We could have won the URC and that would have been some monkey off the backs of Ulster just to get over the line for some silverware. So he's been in there, he's been fighting the corner. He's had that, he's had the final of the URC against a very strong Leinster and a couple of very good games against Toulouse, winning down in Toulouse. So yeah, good coach, don't get me wrong, but I just think that circumstances have led to a situation where I don't think the players were fully behind him. And I think at the end of the day, rather than Ulster making the decision, I think the decision was made by the RFU. Okay. Can you just enlighten me on the financial situation at Ulster? Because I read that it's not looking very good. Did we see some high-profile departures, do you think? Well, the rumours that are coming out, and I don't think the Billy Burns is a rumour anymore, I think that's the Don Dale from what I hear. Pardon me. So yes, I think what Petrie said yesterday in his interview is that the squad will be refreshed. But we're hearing rumours of day viewers who only signed at the beginning of the season, of him leaving, of Will Addison having talks to go back to seal. So, you know, those are pretty high-profile guys. There's a couple of other sort of more senior players who are out of contract, and whether they get contracts renewed or not, we're difficult to see. We obviously signed Stephen Kitchoff on a two-year deal. And questions are being asked, and rightly so. Were we aware of our financial position when we did that deal? You know, that's potentially a million and a half pounds over two years. They come cheap. They say we'll cut with prop, they don't come cheap. You don't get them cheap. No, you definitely don't. So, that said, and I've said this a few times, it's very difficult to sell a product if you've devalued it. So, you know, if the CEO is doing his job at all, and his senior management team, then they need to be recruiting as well. And, you know, that's a job for somebody who can look at the spreadsheet and fit particular players into roles that we can afford. And, you know, I think back to previous times when we signed guys like Louis Luddick, who turned out to be, you know, real stalwarts at the club and put you in 80-minute performances every time they took to the pitch. But probably when they first signed, they're not high profile, so they're not costing you an awful lot. So, I think they've got to go out and find two or three guys of that sort of ilk, you know. Yeah. Okay. So, Richie Murphy is going to take over the Ulster coach as an interim head coach from the end of the 20s. Once he's finished the campaign, he'll join up with Ulster. How do you feel about that? Do you think that's a good appointment in the short term at least? I think it's probably as good as what we could have hoped for. You know, probably the only other option would have been to promote from the guys who are there. And I know Dan Soper is in charge for the game this weekend. And I have my own views on where he sits in the league table of head coaches. But I think it just adds to my view that IRFU, you know, took charge of this at the end or after that Ospreys game. And Richie Murphy is probably the only sort of high profile guy who's available. I'm excited to see what he can do. He has already worked with, you know, maybe six or eight of of our young guys at 20 level over the past couple of seasons. So he knows them, they know him. And they'll be fired up to prove to him that they're worth placing the team. So he has a tough run, two games in South Africa and then back with Cardiff, with Benetton and with Leinster all to play after that. So it's not going to be an easy run for him. But if he can keep us in the top eight and get us a knockout game or two and they still get the Challenge Cup to have a blast at. And I don't think anybody's really overly concerned about that. But it may be an opportunity to send the team to a misfiring Montpellier and get a decent result. And any good results from my own end are going to do the world of good from a confidence point of view. Yeah, because that's what I was going to say to you, Ian, because yes, it has been a disappointed season for us, you know, by the high standards. But there is still plenty to play for, isn't it? You know, you have got a shot of making the URC playoffs. And you mentioned there, you are in the last 16 of the Challenge Cup away at Montpellier. And maybe Ulster should be taking the Challenge Cup seriously, you know, because it is silverware at the end of the day. I mean, how do you feel about that? Would you like to see Ulster give that competition a good crack? Or is the priority for you, the URC and getting into those playoffs? I am one of these people who believe that you should be trying to win every game that you go out to play in. And to be honest with you, I don't think that we have, you know, such a massive squad of players that we can afford to sort of send, you know, a sort of like Leinster, you know, send an A team out here and, you know, a senior team out there. So a couple of years ago, we dropped into the Challenge Cup. And I was very excited to, you know, to win games, albeit one of against a very poor Harlequins team. But, you know, when it got to losing the semi-final against Leinster, I was disappointed losing that as I was disappointed losing any game. So for me, for me, you know, I hope that they do the Challenge Cup a bit of a run that they can. But yeah, bread and butter is the URC. They really need to try and get to get the playoffs. I don't know if top four is within reach. It depends on how we come back from South Africa, I suppose. But from the financial point of view, a home playoff in the URC would be a godsend for us. It's a very competitive league, isn't it, here in the URC? How would you feel about this since the South Africans have come on board? I think that's been a lifeblood for us. I think all you have to do is look at where you guys are, where the Welsh regions are. Before the South Africans came in, you were nearly guaranteed to have two, possibly three teams getting through to European competition. It was very easy just to take things as read. They come in and they provide a different type of opposition, particularly down in South Africa. But I think it's made the other teams sit up and take notice. You only have to look at the improvement from the Italians. Benetton are sitting in top of the playoffs position. Zebra are maybe not getting the reward for some of the play that they have. They have improved, haven't they? Both the Scottish teams are very, very difficult to play against and beat. Ospreys have proved over the past few weeks, both in the URC and in Europe, that they're starting to become very competitive. At some stage, the Scarlets are going to shake off whatever shackles are there on them and start to become a bit more competitive. Cardiff are a lovely team to watch playing and they will win games that sometimes they shouldn't win. Then we come to the Dragons. They've always been my favourite Welsh region for no other reason than that. I have two very good friends who support them. By virtue of the fact that the other Welsh teams are improving, I think Dragons will improve as well. It's a dogfight at that end of the table and every point has to be earned. I know it doesn't appeal to every Welsh supporter, but it's a lot better product. It's a lot more competitive league than it used to be. I agree with that. Have you watched many Dragons games this season? Ian, have you had a chance to watch a couple of games? I try to watch as many games as I possibly can. I've seen a couple of their games and then I usually pick up the URC highlights reels as well. I try and keep an eye on what's happening. I wouldn't be terribly familiar with most of the squad that Dragons have now, but as I've alluded to earlier on, you still have some cracking players there, international class players. Bradley Roberts, of course, you remember him? I remember Bradley very, very well. We were disappointed to lose him, but you couldn't fault the guy. He's stuck a couple of Welsh caps onto his CV. He's not a bad player, but an enthusiastic player. I assume he'll be in the squad for the weekend. He's injured at the moment. I don't know if he is going to recover from injury or not yet. We haven't had an injury update at the time of recording this, but he is currently injured. Would you expect to get any of the guys back from the Welsh camp for the weekend? Here's the thing. Dragons are injury ravaged at the moment. We had 21 players unavailable going into the Glasgow game a couple of weeks ago. We picked up injuries there, we had guys like Kai Evans coming off, George Young coming off, and the winger whose name escapes me, Gerard Rosser. He came off as well, so it just added to our injury rolls. Now, as things stand, we've only got two fit back rowers headed into this game. We've got Dan Lyddiart and we've got Sean Lonsdale. Those are our only two fit back rowers, so that may change over the next couple of days. If I'm Guy Flanagan and I'm getting on the phone to Warren Gatland and asking very nicely, please can we have Tame Basher back? I don't see any reason why we can't have Tame Basher back for this game. He's not really pushing for a starting position with the Wales at the moment, is he? No, that's right. Mackenzie Martin took his place for the Isle of Gain. He's down the list a wee bit. He'll be a good inclusion for you? Well, we need him because we haven't got any back rowers at all. When Dragons travel to Belfast, they're going to be without a lot of players, so we're really up against it, unfortunately. Let's talk about that game then. So, this Saturday night, 7.35pm, Alstair hosting Dragons at the Kings Band. Ian, here's a question for you. When was the last time Dragons won at Alstair? Do you know the year? I'm going to say the last time Dragons beat Alstair was probably in Belfast. I'm trying to think the last time we lost to Dragons at all was probably about nine or ten years ago. So, I'm going to say, we'll say 15 years ago, whatever that is. 2009? Very close. It was 2008 and Dragons won 16-14. That was the last win in Belfast. Here's another interesting stat for you. I don't know if you know this. The last Welsh region to win in Belfast was the Scarlets and that was way back in February 2016. So, Alstair's got a very good record against Welsh regions in Belfast, hasn't he? Yeah, eight years ago I was at that game. I'm trying to remember. A back row player and his brother played out half for Scarlets. Shinglow. Very mad. He got a penalty or something very close to Alstair's line. He booted the ball into the crowd and nearly took the head off me. We weren't best pleased. So, it was out half. It was his brother who had won the penalty, I think. Steve Shinglow, we would have been. So, he blasted the ball into the crowd from two yards from the touchline to go for the line out. But it didn't go down too well. So, I can remember that. I think that was the actual game that we lost. We tend to do pretty well. Maybe not so well when we go across to Wales. Although, I suppose over the last three or four years it's been a bit better. But that's more down to the Welsh region's performances and Alstair's performances. But we've always been hard to beat at home, Jimmy, and you would know that. I won't take any glee in saying I don't see that changing this weekend, to be honest. Even though we are in a bit of turmoil ourselves, I think we should be able to rally the troops well enough to get a win. Yeah, absolutely. So, Dragons have not won away in the URC since beating Conor, and that was in October 2021. We have a habit, Ian, of making unwanted records at the Dragons. So, it's pretty bad. Our waveform really does stink. And like you said, I don't see that changing. I read today that Alstair are expected to have Ireland internationals Nick Timoney, Jacob Stockfield, Tom Stewart and Tom O'Toole available for this game, according to RTE. So, again, that's a big boost for you. So, going into this game, you must be, like I said, very confident, I guess. With Alstair in turmoil, I guess Dragons is the perfect opportunity to get back to winning ways, isn't it? Well, I suppose, yes, you could say that. But what I can say is, in response to those guys being released, we thought that was going to get us an easy win over in Swansea. The previous weekend, when we got four or five released from the camp, look how that turned out. As I said earlier on, you don't know what's going to happen to the ball. Per decision by ref or anything at all. So, I never take anything too much for granted. But I would have to agree with you, Jimmy, that if you had been picked on a team to play after losing your coach and having to sort of reset, then it would probably be either Dragons or Zebrae. So, yes, per Dragons, I suppose you could say. Yes, it's fair enough if you saw this. Yes, but they're coming across. They probably know all this stuff themselves. So, they've nothing to lose. They've no pressure, really, on them. They can go out and enjoy themselves. And we've got a lovely plastic pitch now across there. So, the skill that you've inevitably got in the team, the guys are going to be able to show that. Okay, then. So, let's finish up with a prediction. So, I made my prediction on the WAP pod that I did yesterday, and I took everything into account. So, the fact that Alistair could have a, to use football term, new manager bounce, you know, players have a point to prove, don't they? You know, you've got your Irish internationals back. Dragons, low on confidence, passive defence, like we don't have a defence coach, and it really shows. We're struggling big time at the moment. Some of our skill set isn't up to it at the moment. I don't know if you saw our game against Glasgow, that tap and go, where you failed to tap. It's just little things like that. That was so funny. I had to laugh. I didn't want to laugh, but when I watched it, I just thought, that's so Dragonsy, isn't it? Taking everything into account. I'm going to say Alistair by 33 points. That was my prediction. And I take no pleasure in saying that, but I think it's going to be another heavy defeat. How do you see it going, Ian? I know we obviously think Alistair will win, but will it be a heavy win, a big win? Well, I just noticed the last two home games against Dragons, we scored 40 points in both of those. But Dragons were in the mid-teens against us, so that's 20, 25 points, something like that. Look, I will settle for a decent win. I'm not one of these that wants to see points racked up just for the sake of points being racked up. Yes, play everything out, but I'd be more than happy with a bonus point win. If that's 35, 15 or 40 points to 20 or something like that, I'd be happy enough. For the sake of the competition, I don't like to see these big one-sided results at the end of it. Definitely, as a supporter, I want to win, and I want to win well. But I also want to see the opposition putting up a good show as well and giving us a game. Hopefully we do that, because we haven't done that the past few games, I don't think. Me personally, and I spoke about you on the pod. I don't think we've shown enough fight. I don't think the work rate hasn't been there. Bad mistakes, skill set, it's just lacking. You had a couple of half-decent performances in the Challenge Cup though, didn't you? Yeah, I mean, we failed to get out of that pool, and I was very disappointed, because I looked at the pool, and you had Oyuna, you had Poe, and Sharks were there. I expected us to get out of the pool, but we failed. I think losing to Zebra away really did hurt us. We had a good win against Oyuna, we got a bonus point out in Poe, which was a good result, but I think failing to beat Zebra really killed us. Then, of course, we lost at home to Sharks, and they thought they will cut the contingent down there, so it was difficult. It's been a very tough campaign, only two wins against Ospreys and Starless, because I'm sure you're aware of the situation in Wales. All the budgets now have been decreased, so everyone's working off the same level, and there was an expectation from a lot of people that the Dragons would be more competitive, because we're all working off the same budget. That was the expectation. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened, and it's been a very familiar, disappointing campaign. Have you lost players to the other regions, Jimmy? Not yet, but there's rumours of Tame Basham going to the Starlets. I think losing Will Rowlands and Ross Moriarty, but they were two big losses for us. Oh, they were big. Yeah, not just big players, but there were also big personalities in your camp as well. Yeah, absolutely. I was delighted for you that Wainwright signed his extension, and that can only be a good thing. When the other guys are sitting, discussing contracts, and they look around and they see those guys are still there, where else would you want to be, really? But it does look like that we're probably going to lose Tame and Leon Brown. Leon Brown just doesn't. He's just never fit, unfortunately. We've had a good discussion on this pod, me and Gavin. We like Leon. He's got a lot of potential. He's just never fit. He's in the Wales Cup now, and he's injured, and his budget's coming down. You really got to think, though, is he value for money? Can we afford to keep these players? It's looking likely that Leon is going to move on, I'm afraid, or with Tame. Who knows? But the rumor is he could be going to the Scarlets, but that's just a rumor at the moment. And Elliot, was he there for the long haul? Yeah, Elliot should be with us. I don't know about Bradley. I don't know if he's got another season left. I would like to keep Bradley. He's very popular. It can't be costing you a lot of money. No, I don't think so. Now, hopefully, you can keep those guys and then build around them and become a wee bit more competitive. If you could even start winning your home games, it would be a big help, wouldn't it? I mean, we did win three home games, and that's pretty big for the Dragons. Honestly, for other teams, that's nothing, but for the Dragons, that was a big deal. We won three in a row, and then, of course, we lost to the Sharks. But you're going to see a lot of young players as well on Saturday, obviously, because of the injuries and our international players, so you will see a more youthful-looking Dragons. But as long as we go there and give it a good crack, that's the answer to that. Jamie, there will always be, because I've never had a Weds team come to Ulster and not have someone stand out, and there will always be someone who stands out. I can remember years ago when Reece Patsel's first game, I think, Nerdey's first game at professional level, and he was to heaven's shoulders above everybody in the pits that night. So someone's going to come over on Saturday with the Dragons, and I'm going to be purring about them later on in the evening, I think. I'll tweet you and tell you who I thought were your better players. That would be good. I'd like that. So just give us hope, then, as Dragons fans. Is there any areas that the Dragons can target Ulster? Where do you think Ulster are vulnerable? Oh, they could be vulnerable nearly anywhere. It depends on the mindset. We have the potential to have a really good setup. Front five, maybe. I don't know what your front five is going to look like. It's really difficult to target the front five. Front five, maybe. If we've Tom Stewart back, he'll help in the front row and or two. But we're a bit light in second row. Henderson's injured. Alan O'Connor was injured. I'm not sure whether he's back or not. Treadwell has a rib injury. I don't think he'll be back. So that's your three senior guys out. And then you're down to Harry Sheridan and Cormac Izetchukwu. Both very good players, but quite young and ten. Maybe to give you a wee bit of leeway, you're giving away penalties and stuff like that just through inexperience. Our back row should be pretty good. I don't know who the halfbacks will be. If we play the same halfbacks, you might have an opportunity to go through that sort of area against us. And then, of course, there's just the mistakes that our backs have been making. And if you can, if we still make those and then if you can... Sounds familiar. Sounds very familiar. Yeah, well, I mean, you know, the scores that Ospreay's got in that game against us, and this was the annoying part for me, because we did more than enough in that game to win the game. But we threw that stupid pass that was intercepted. Stockdale dropped the ball when it was easier to catch it and run in the score. The line-out that Ospreay's bought that led to the drop goal, again, was a mistake. Stockdale had fielded the ball and basically took it into touch. So the mistakes are there or were there. So it's really down to dragons if they can capitalise on those. And that's what I would be hammering home to them. Always be alert, be alert. If you pressurise them, you can pressurise them into making the mistakes. And then it's down to the guys themselves then as to whether they can capitalise on those. There's no real one area I can think of where you can get inroads into this, but I would be expecting your coaches to be hammering home the message, put them under pressure, pressure, pressure, and then try and feed off the mistakes. Brilliant. So a little bit of hope for the dragons. But as you know all too well, Ian, it is the hope that kills you, isn't it? That's what I was saying on our pod, that's me and Gavin Smarto. It's always the hope that kills you. Brilliant. Ian, thank you so much. I've enjoyed it, Jimmy. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us. It's been an absolute pleasure. Best of luck to the rest of the season. Less so on Saturday. Go easy on us, please. We could do with a bonus point, like a try bonus point would be great. I don't think we'll come anywhere close to losing bonus points. If we score four tries and come away with a point, I'll be quite happy with that. That's how low we are. I probably wouldn't be happy at conceding four tries. If we can get away with a decent win, I'll not be granted to you. Brilliant. Thank you. Okay. So just before we go, a reminder that you can find us on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcasts and the Sports Social Network. And if you like what we do, please rate us and leave us a good review, as it all helps to grow the pod. Thanks again, Ian. You've been fantastic. We'll be back very soon. Until then, take care. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to the Dragon's Lair podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show. Please subscribe, rate and review wherever you listen to us, as it really helps spread the word. You can find us on all the usual social media channels or email us on welshregionalrugbypod at gmail.com. And remember, whatever the question is, rugby is always the answer.