Wales cap Baker signs for Dragons
WALES international Dan Baker has returned to regional rugby after signing for the Dragons.
The three-cap No. 8 left the Ospreys last summer to play for Stade Montois in the French second division.
Stade released Baker last month for family reasons, and he has since negotiated a shortterm deal that will see him playing for Dean Ryan’s Dragons.
Baker is available with immediate effect and had been lined up for a debut last week against Edinburgh, only for the match to be postponed because of a frozen pitch.
The Dragons have moved for him amid a back-row injury pile-up, with seven players receiving treatment and Aaron Wainwright away with Wales.
Baker will see it as an opportunity to kick-start his career in Wales.
A knee injury cost him close on two years of his time at the Ospreys and there was a further lay-off due to shoulder trouble.
But he was thought highly of at the Liberty, a point underlined by the region sticking by him during his 100-week absence with that anterior cruciate ligament setback.
A strong carrier who likes to keep the ball alive, he was once tipped as a potential back-row rival to Taulupe Faletau.
Injuries subsequently knocked him back, but he will want to show the Dragons what he can do.
THE weather again intervened last week when the freezing conditions put paid to our fixture at Ffos Las on Thursday.
This time around it was a straightforward decision because of the severity of the conditions and we pulled stumps on Wednesday morning.
It was obviously very frustrating for our clerk of the course Dai Jones and his team of groundstaff who had spent hours putting down frost covers and moving rails to try to get the meeting on.
Our next meeting is on Thursday, April 1, when the feature race is the West Wales National over three and a half miles. We’re looking forward to seeing the entries, with the prize won previously by some of the leading jump yards including Dan Skelton, Venetia Williams and Evan Williams.
By the time this fixture takes place, we are expecting to have received some clarity on when spectators might be allowed to return. There is a meeting with the Welsh Government and other elite sports in Wales in early March to discuss the situation.
Based on earlier conversations with government officials, there is no doubt that, once approved, the first meetings with spectators will be restricted to relatively small numbers – likely to be between 250 and 500. This will allow our systems and procedures for managing the venue safely to be tested thoroughly before larger volumes of people are admitted.
Due to the short break before we race next at Ffos Las, I’ll be spending time working with the team at Chepstow in the coming weeks. Their next meeting is on Thursday, February 25, and includes a qualifier for the Pertemps Final at the Cheltenham Festival.
That race, like all the races at the Festival, is incredibly competitive and in 2019 it was nearly won by the Carmarthenshiretrained Tobefair from the yard of Paul and Debra Hamer. He lost by just a neck to the favourite Sire Du Berlais.
One of the projects we are working on at both Ffos Las and Chepstow is looking at how we can assist Welsh trainers find more owners. The coronavirus pandemic is having an impact on the levels of horses in training across the UK, with some yards reporting a reduction in numbers.
As an industry we must all work together to keep the show on the road.
Wales is fortunate to have excellent trainers and we’ll be doing our bit to promote them in the coming months.