WATCHING flanker-turned-hooker James Benjamin being put under pressure by a pair of strong-scrummaging Lions provided Dragons boss Dean Ryan with a "glimmer" to show their front row experiment is worthwhile.
The 27-year-old from Rogerstone is taking his first steps as a hooker after a year-long project to teach him the dark arts.
Last season the Wales Sevens international was put on a training and conditioning programme to make the switch to the 2 jersey after a career in 6,7 or 8.
The lack of Premiership rugby because of the coronavirus pandemic has delayed his learning but Benjamin has been in the thick of the action in pre-season.
He played against London Scottish and Aberavon for Ebbw Vale before a big step up in quality last weekend.
Benjamin came off the bench to replace former Wales hooker Richard Hibbard in the friendly defeat against Leicester at Welford Road.
He showed more evidence of his handling abilities and athleticism when providing the assist for Lewis Jones' try yet it was in the tight where he learnt most.
Benjamin was up against gnarled Tigers front rowers Tom Youngs and Dan Cole, who have experienced the highest level with England and the Lions.
"He has thrown himself into the challenge and has never been shy in scrums and under pressure," said director of rugby Ryan.
"He will definitely make some mistakes from new experiences but finished against two Lions in Leicester that were trying to put the squeeze on.
"I can't model those experiences in the week and we have to keep trying to accumulate them for him. Get that right and we do get a fantastic footballer on the field."
Benjamin has been picking the brains of forwards coach Mefin Davies and Hibbard but in Leicester got to experience throwing into a lineout at the death when seven points down and being targeted at the scrum.
"There is knowledge for him to learn from but there is no substitute for experiences, especially in that position," said Ryan. "You can talk about it all day but you can't understand how it feels until you are in there.
"I am so pleased because your first experience is an important one, so for it to go well makes it easier to keep developing him. We'll try to get two or three years of experiences into him in a very short period of time."
It isn't the first time that Benjamin has tried out a new position – in 2018 Bernard Jackman fielded him in midfield in the Celtic Cup.
The glut of options in the back row - Aaron Wainwright, Ross Moriarty, Taine Basham, Ollie Griffiths, Harri Keddie, Ben Fry, Dan Baker, Lennon Greggains, Huw Taylor - meant that Ryan & Co felt another experiment was worthwhile.
"His route to playing at seven was blocked and we were at risk of losing a really good footballer," said the director of rugby.
"He is one of those incredible athletes that can turn their hand to most things, so we wondered whether he could change and there is always talk of the hooker being an additional back rower.
"His ability to play broken field rugby is unbelievable but is he going to be a frontline 12 for us? No, he's probably not big enough for URC and we have got a hell of a lot of competition in the back row.
"It was a really positive conversation with him about us wanting him competing for a first-team position, not being somebody who plugs a gap because they are a good footballer.
"To do that, he had to take a risk and we backed that risk by contracting him and supporting him. Everyone saw a glimmer of that with 20 minutes last weekend."
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