HERE we go again - no sooner has one former Wales captain had a go at Newport Gwent Dragons than another jumps on the bandwagon.

First Eddie Butler, that well known man of Gwent, calls on the Dragons to drop the name Newport from the title and to play in different parts of the county, not to mention slagging off David Watkins in a totally unacceptable way.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Mike Hall has gone a step further by suggesting the Dragons ought to disappear altogether in a further regional cull, or maybe become a development team.

The cheek of it! What does Hall know about the Dragons other than watching the odd match? The only thing he and Butler have in common is they both talk rubbish.

Butler overstepped the mark in some of his comments about Watkins.

On top of that he should know the Dragons can't play anywhere other than Rodney Parade in a full-blown fixture because no other ground in the county complies with the Safety of Sports Ground Act in catering for crowds of around 4,000-5,000 or more.

As for Newport being in the title he and others conveniently ignore the names Cardiff and Llanelli being in the names of their regional teams but, just as now, it's the Dragons' organisation which is highlighted when there is any little difficulty.

We couldn't dream of having a blast at the Blues or the Scarlets now could we?

As for Hall's latest outburst, no wonder Dragons coach Paul Turner calls them a disgrace.

If there was to be any cull - and WRU chief executive Steve Lewis gave assurances in the Argus yesterday that there would be no such thing - then why not his own organisation, laughably called a region when they no more encompass the Pontypridd/Bridgend area than Edinburgh do.

Yet they are the team which badly let Wales down in the Heineken Cup.

Handed the easiest draw of all the Welsh teams, though they got in via the back door, they were still an embarrassment.

The Ospreys beat two French teams, Stade Francais and Clermont Auvergne at home and lost to Leicester only in injury time, Llanelli Scarlets beat English giants Wasps and the Dragons defeated Castres and led at the renowned Thomond Park against Munster with 10 minutes left.

But Hall's ex-team were nothing short of a disgrace, hammered at home by Perpignan who the Dragons beat last season and humiliated at Leeds, the bottom team in the English Premiership.

Attitude and commitment were sadly lacking, qualities the Dragons possess in abundance, Spirit is top of their agenda, they lack nothing in effort and they battle hard against superior odds in many cases.

For all their problems about a lack of depth and facilities, never mind injury problems, there is little to choose between them and any of the other Welsh regions in the Celtic League and Heineken Cup qualification for next season.

Yet Hall calls for them to be culled, though that didn't appear a million miles away on the return flight from Cork on Saturday night when in a hair-raising final descent a vicious crosswind had a few players fearing they wouldn't see the fast approaching midnight hour.

But they live to fight another day, which is exactly what they will do whatever people like Hall try to throw at them.

And while we're at it, not only is it reassuring to hear from Steve Lewis that no plan exists, or will exist, to reduce the regions from four to three, similarly it's heartening to be told that a fourth official is planned for the Celtic League.

It was farcical the Dragons had two perfectly good 'tries' disallowed against Munster when the use of a video camera by a fourth official would have granted either or both which would have completely altered the result.

It would be a Scottish official in charge, this time Malcom Changleng, the day after the Scarlets expressed their disgust at fellow Scot Peter Allan who sent Dafydd James off against Ulster, while Rob Dickson was involved in that ridiculous last ditch penalty against Connacht when they met the Ospreys earlier in the season, and immediate past colleague Iain Ramage never had the whistle far from his mouth.

As for the Six Nations which starts this weekend, it'll have to wait for another day.

Blanket coverage is guaranteed everywhere from tomorrow, the English media expecting a victory and the Welsh, I suspect, travelling to Twickenham more in hope than expectation.