Welsh URC coach backs owners to fight for club's survival
SPOTLIGHT: Following the Welsh Rugby Union’s consideration to cull one United Rugby Championship outfit, a struggling club’s coach backed his side’s owners to fight for survival.
Dragons’ defence coach Dale Macleod has thrown his full support behind the club’s owners, saying that they should “fight our fight” for the Newport side to remain in the URC.
The Welsh game has been in disarray since the 2019 World Cup, where Warren Gatland’s side reached the semifinals, but was pipped by eventual champions, the Springboks.
They also held the No.1 World Rugby ranking heading into the tournament following a successful Six Nations campaign, which included the Grand Slam and Triple Crown titles.
Since then, they’ve lost a host of experienced campaigners in the years that followed, including former captain and lock Alun Wyn Jones, flanker Justin Tipuric, scrumhalf Gareth Davies, flyhalf Dan Biggar and centre Jonathan Davies.
They also changed head coaches twice, with Wayne Pivac taking the reins from Gatland post-2019 before Gatland returned, which turned out to be a nightmare second stint.
Fast forward six years later, Wales find themselves ranked No.12 in the world and recently broke an 18-match losing streak against Eddie Jones’ Japan.
The Dragons, along with fellow Welsh URC counterparts Scarlets, Cardiff and Ospreys, are currently preparing for the upcoming season, with all sides uncertain of their future in the competition.
Macleod said that he will continue to prepare his side for the upcoming URC season as per normal, and that he trusts the Dragons’ owners to fight for their survival.
“You can only control what you can control, my job is to come here and coach, for the players it’s to come here and play,” said Macleod.
“We are focused on that, and the rest will take care of itself. There’s not much that I can do or say.
“Their job is to go and deal with it. They will fight our fight.
“It’s probably just a bit of a shake-up, but we will live to fight another day. I am trusted to coach the team, and I will trust them to fight our battle.
“I keep saying it to the players, ‘ know your role, do your role’. There is no use getting stressed about something that I can’t control, and I am just loving being here.”
New Dragons prop Dillon Lewis, who returns to Wales after a stint in the Premiership with Harlequins, added:
“If I am honest, it’s white noise now,” said the 57-times capped forward.
“We are here to concentrate on rugby, and it’s not our job to dictate what happens with the regions and regional game.
“All we can do is put our best foot forward on the pitch, try to get results and play well. Then, from the powers above, whatever will be, will be.
“That is not something for us to concentrate on right now, and there are a lot of exciting things happening here at the Dragons, so we’ve just got to concentrate on the rugby.”
With additional reporting by BBC
