NOT MANY REASONS TO BE OPTIMISTIC
THERE’S nothing more depressing than optimism. That is, of course, an example of an oxymoron — two words that appear to be contradictory in conjunction with one another.
An example of another could be intense apathy.
Yet those are both oxymorons that most Dragons fans could admit to feeling at times. For good reason, too.
Because so much about the Dragons is an oxymoron. Contradictions and paradoxes that leave you unsure quite where you, or they, stand.
Their 48-14 Challenge Cup defeat against Northampton was ultimately a rout, an eight-try thrashing with the Welsh region clearly second best.
Yet Bernard Jackman’s verdict, and, in fairness, the general consensus was that the performance was an improvement on the previous week’s thrashing by Leinster’s seconds. At first, it feels like a contradiction. It’s not. You can show minor improvement in defeat, even heavy defeat, particularly when the previous performance was as awful as that reverse against Leinster.
That said, it’s not as if great strides were made.
The Leinster defeat was unbelievably poor, especially given the number of Wales internationals who played that day. Yes, they were absent at Franklin’s Gardens, but this Northampton team were no great shakes.
Barring some clinical red-zone attacking that relied on brute strength and the combined 347kg of Luther Burrell, Taqele Naiyarayoro and Api Ratuniyarawa, the Saints lacked any real imagination or creativity.
Yet they were comfortable. Painfully so from a Dragons perspective.
There was a period of sustained possession in the Northampton 22 for the Dragons in the first half. Most teams would have come away with something. Yet the Dragons never really looked like troubling the scorers in that spell.
Then there were the circumstances in which the Dragons arrived in Northampton.
Stepping off the coach after a three-hour journey from Newport with just 60 minutes to prepare for a European rugby match carried the whiff of amateurishness.
Sure, the bus driver arriving late and traffic on the A43 is hardly something the region can control.
But travelling to and from the ground on the same day rather than opting for an overnight stay on the grounds of budget constraints meant preparation was always at risk of being compromised.
You got the sense the battle was lost before it had even begun once you saw the Dragons players rock up so close to kick-off.
Of course, all the above oxymorons and minor contradictions add nuance to the situation at Rodney Parade. In a world where everything has to be black and white, it’s good to acknowledge the grey areas.
And that’s where we are with the Dragons. A lot of grey that shrouds the black and white.
Are they really improving, as Jackman seems to think? Are they regressing? And should we expect more, or accept that little would change were changes to be made? We don’t really know.
The black and white of it all is they’re not improving and we should expect more. But it’s not that simple.
There are bigger problems that have been hanging over the region since long before Jackman arrived. The Irishman is not the sole cause of the problems and his dismissal would not be the sole solution.
Yet previous coaches have made the region punch above their weight with weaker squads than this. A year and a half into the process and it feels as if we’re still clouded by the grey, on the promise that this is a longterm project that will come good. Nothing yet has shown it will. Barring a miracle, the Dragons will lose against Clermont next week, regardless of whether the French side send out their first or second XV. Then come the Welsh derbies. That’s where the Dragons need to finally show some improvements. Real, tangible improvements, rather than the consolation that the latest hiding wasn’t quite as horrific as the last.
There’s one more oxymoron. Dead man walking.
Rightly or wrongly, Jackman’s not quite there yet.
But it might not be long...