The Dragons and the Waratahs put the age old debate of which is the superior code to the test in a fiery opposed training session at the NSW Centre of Excellence in Daceyville.
The sight of Dragons lock Jack Bird and Waratahs back-rower Lachie Swinton getting involved in some argy-bargy and bit of push and shove, showed the competitive juices were flowing when the two clubs went head-to-head in a a spirited training run.
However, any Dragons players looking to make the code switch to play second row in rugby union have some work to do on their lineouts, after some comical attempts at times, that were met with roars of laughter from both squads on the sidelines.
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Still, the cross-training exercise devised by Dragons coach Anthony Griffin and Waratahs counterpart Darren Coleman was a welcome change for the players, who have been slugging it out with conditioning drills early in the 2023 pre-season.
Dragons prop Aaron Woods admitted his side had some work to do on their defence in rugby union after some players forgot they only needed to retreat behind the lock’s feet, rather than the 10 metres they are accustomed to in league.
“It was good fun today,” Woods said.
“They were just different. The games and the styles are different.
“I think the first game we played was the union one and we didn’t adapt to the rules and it took us a while to get going because we were going back 10 metres and you only had to go back one.
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“They played to their strengths and I think Kurtley Beale showed us up a bit there.
“They are both different toughness and fitness, but it was really good fun and we really enjoyed it actually.”
Days after Dragons teammates Zac Lomax and Talatau Amone got into a scuffle at training, Woods couldn’t resist a dig at Bird over his run-in with Swinton, who towers over him in stature.
“It got a bit feisty in the opposed session there, with the big fella (Swinton) in the middle for the Waratahs, but it was really good,” Woods said.
Dragons teammates separated at training | 00:30
“Jack Bird has always got that push and shove in him, so it was expected.
“We have had a bit of that fisty-cuffs at training lately.”
Pressed on where he was during both the bust-up between Lomax and Amone and the battle between Bird and Swinton, Woods played the diplomat.
“I’m a lover not a fighter,” Woods said.
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Woods explained that in a competitive environment like professional sport, players coming together at training is nothing new.
“When you do a bit of contact some guys don’t like getting hit harder than others and young blokes want to show up old blokes and old blokes want to show up young blokes,” Woods said.
“You never want to take a backward step and today was league vs union and union vs league, so it is really good to see the competitiveness is there.
“But at the end of the day we shake hands and move on and we talk about how silly we were on the field and muck around after.
“We really appreciated the Waratahs taking us into their inner sanctum and it was a really good day.”
Woods believes there are areas around composure under pressure and adapting when things don’t go to plan that the Dragons can take from the Waratahs.
“They showed us a few things that we can work on and hopefully we showed them a few as well,” Woods said.
“I think we can learn from their composure and when we were learning a different game it took us a while to adapt to it.
“It is probably a thing as a club in times in games when things go wrong it takes us a while to adapt, so if we can move on quickly and take our opportunities it could be a lot better for us.”
However, 31-year-old Woods stopped short of considering a late career code switch to the 15-man game.
“No not at all,” Woods said.
“I’ll stick to league. There is too many rules in union.
“I only found out if you knock the ball down you get 10 in the bin, so I won’t be participating in that.”
Dragons forward Jack de Belin revealed he played rugby union up until he was 18 and enjoyed the chance to walk down memory lane against the Waratahs.
“It was so fun, it takes me back to my rugby union days,” de Belin said.
“I used to play rugby before league, so it was really good fun to test ourselves against the Waratahs.
“I used to play rugby union when I was 12 or 13 on the Sunday and soccer on Saturday.
“Then I loved rugby union, so I started playing rugby league on the Saturday and I ditched soccer.
“I played rugby union up until I started at the Dragons. I used to play at St Gregory’s Campbelltown up until I was 18.”
Off-contract in 2024, de Belin was pressed if the rival code was an option to bookend his career.
“You never know, but my heart is in rugby league, so 13-man code for sure,” de Belin said.
After a gruelling start to the Dragons’ pre-season, de Belin said it was nice to break things up by taking on some new faces in the Waratahs on the training paddock.
However, given the size of some of the monsters in the Waratahs line-up, he wouldn’t want to do it every week.
“With the combined games that was just competing and really getting the heart rate up,” de Belin said.
“It was good to play against a set of fresh boys because we are obviously playing against the Dragons boys every day. It was nice to come up against some boys from a different code.
“There are a couple of big boys for sure and they look like they live in the gym, so I could probably take a few tips from them and learn how to lift a bit better.”
Despite the age old rivalry between the two sports, de Belin would love nothing more than for both codes to thrive in the Australian sporting landscape for years to come.
“At the end of the day our games are very similar and you want to see them both doing really well,” de Belin said.
“Especially for someone like me who grew up playing both.
“I’ve got a real soft spot for rugby union, so I’d love to see both rugby league and rugby union really thrive in Australia.”
