 Paul Turner was named Magners League coach of the year |
Dragons boss Paul Turner says the big financial difference between his region and Heineken Cup rivals Toulouse puts the Welsh club at a disadvantage. The Heineken Cup champions visit Rodney Parade on 16 October with Turner highlighting the gulf in the two teams' wage bills. "Toulouse work on an 8.5 (million) salary cap for players; we are working around 2.83 (million)," said Turner. "I suppose it's like Preston North End playing Real Madrid." Added Turner: "I've watched them quite a bit this season and at times it's quite frightening, but that's what we are in it for. You have got to be in this European Cup every year." And he is determined to be optimistic about the prospect of facing Toulouse home and away. "Glasgow showed two years ago that you can go out to Toulouse and win which was a hell of an achievement," he said. "But on your day, as Glasgow showed, it is possible to get those victories and that's what Europe are about." The Dragons have not had their best start to the season winning just one of their first four Magners League matches - a 23-11 victory at home to Glasgow.  | 606: DEBATE |
And Turner is hoping to go up to Glasgow in their opening Heineken pool encounter on Friday night and beat Glasgow again. "We have had some success at Firhill in the past. So we are hoping to do a job up there and get the champions back to Rodney Parade the following week. "We have not started well. There are reasons for that. I felt the second half against the Scarlets we found our form and the players were quite pleased with that, but we didn't quite get the desired result. "It's step by step really. We are getting players back from injury. We were pleased that we played some good football [against the Scarlets] "We started the season poorly but we are going to get better that's for sure."
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