Peter Jackson’s column: Lyn Jones is happy to foster home-grown Dragons

Lyn Jones and his home-grown Dragons start the most challenging week of their lives today. By the end of it, nobody ought to be surprised if the so-called Welsh Cinderellas have booked themselves a ball at the European Challenge Cup final.
Before making the long trek to Murrayfield for Friday night's semi-final against Edinburgh, the last Welsh team left standing in Europe has an exacting piece of domestic business to attend to – Leinster at Rodney Parade this afternoon.
Their formidable presence affords the Dragons the opportunity to remind the Dubliners that reaching the last four of the Champions' Cup is one thing; getting to the last four of the Pro 12 something else entirely. One win in five has left them two points adrift of the play-off zone.
Should the holders fail to reach a sixth successive Grand Final, the Dragons of Newport Gwent will have had a fair bit to do with it. Two months ago they went into the Lions' den at the RDS, beat Leinster 16-14 and if the Irish Lions were otherwise engaged in the Six Nations, then so, too, was the Dragons' very own Taulupe Faletau.
That the most automatic of Welsh No. 8 choices since Mervyn Davies failed to make the starting grid for last week's quarter-final against the Blues said everything about the competition for places.    With their principal overseas player, South African lock Raynard Landman under suspension, the 23 on duty are all Welsh-qualified bar South African tighthead Brok Harris and the Kiwi flanker Nick Crosswell.
At 50, Jones has learnt as much by trial and error as anything that the most effective way of generating heart and soul is to develop local produce.
“I have been coaching a long time, since 1994 and I have made many errors along the way,'' he said. “The biggest one was signing overseas players who were not only too expensive but nowhere near as good as the boys up the valley at places like Cross Keys – better players at a fraction of the cost.
“That doesn't just apply to us. It's general throughout the industry. I'm not referring to any of the overseas players signed during my time at the Ospreys. We did due diligence and they were all good signings.
“I'd learnt the lesson before that in my very early coaching days at Neath. I once signed a second-row from the Southern Hemisphere and he was hopeless. No names, no pack drill but after we'd cut our losses, another club came in and signed him. Crazy game, rugby.
“For me it's all about heart and passion.     Good players from foreign fields are worth the investment because the younger ones learn from them and in that respect they can be invaluable.
“The Dragons have struggled in the past, not just to do well on the field but to supply players for the Wales squad. Now that we've been winning more often, more players are coming through – great for the club, the supporters and the players.   They've got the taste of high-profile matches and they're hungry for more.''
Jones, never anything less than the straightest of shooters, has no beef with those who refer to the Dragons as the Cinderella region. “It's justifiable,'' he says. “The Dragons have to earn sufficient respect over a long enough period to ensure that title becomes redundant.''
As director of rugby, Jones, in tandem with his head-coach namesake Kingsley, has been busy changing the perception of the Dragons as a team that doesn't win anything. That image doomed their attempt to bring Danny Lydiate back before Christmas, the ex-Dragon preferring the Ospreys instead.
The political wrangle with the WRU which left the regions caught between the devil and the deep blue sea put paid to Luke Charteris' wish to retrace his steps from Racing back to Rodney Parade last summer.
“That was a terrible time for everybody, totally disruptive and very unnerving,'' Jones said. “I don't blame Luke. It was an opportunity missed.''
For the first three months of the season, the Dragons appeared to be stuck in the same downward spiral, losing 11 of their first 14 matches. Since then they have played another 18, winning 13.
There have been some notable scalps along the way – Newcastle on Tyneside, Stade Francais at home, the Cardiff Blues twice and Ulster, not to forget Leinster in Dublin.
“We started the season poorly with lots of injuries which meant we couldn't get any momentum,'' Jones said. “Since the beginning of December we've turned that round. We're coming to the end of the start but we still have a lot of ground to make up.
“Leinster will no doubt come fully loaded. They have been a formidable force on the European stage now for some time, a lovely oiled machine.''
Jones will call for something infinitely better than the performance against the Blues last week, even if it turned out to be just enough to see off the Cardiff rivals complete with their five Test Lions.
“We played for 30 minutes last week,'' Jones said. “There were a lot of nerves pre-match, a lot of young players who had never experienced a match of such magnitude. We had a fantastic 40 minutes at Newcastle in January. The challenge now is to extend that to a bit more than 50 minutes if we are to stand a chance against Leinster.''
What makes Lyn and Kingsley Jones unique is that their sons are part of the homespun Dragons' squad. All three were in the matchday 23 against the Blues – Kingsley's boys Dorian and Rhys and Lyn's lad, scrum-half Luc.
Talk about keeping up with the Joneses…