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Wales Online
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Mathew Davies

Today's rugby news as Welsh region unable to raise team for planned friendly and legend names his greatest opponent

These are your rugby headlines from Wales and beyond on Wednesday, August 10.

Dragons unable to raise team for friendly

The Dragons are unable to raise a team for their scheduled pre-season friendly with RGC later this month.

According to the north Wales-based club in a statement on their website, the warm-up game is now off but there remains hope the Rodney Parade club will venture north again in future.

READ MORE: Dan Biggar reveals his personal sadness

"Unfortunately, the Dragons are unable to raise a team for our scheduled pre-season fixture in Llangefni. However, we will definitely look to return to Anglesey again in the future," said RGC.

Instead RGC state they have arranged a training match against Nant Conwy on Thursday week as an alternative to prepare for the start of the Welsh Premiership season.

Habana reveals best winger he faced

South Africa legend Bryan Habana has revealed the best winger he faced in his career.

Habana, who was capped 124 times for the Springboks, faced off against Wales flyers George North and Shane Williams during his playing days but he reserved special plaudits for New Zealand opponents in particular.

"I was fortunate enough to play against top wingers like Drew Mitchell and Adam Ashley Cooper, when he played a bit of wing," said Habana.

"Still, for me, the All Black wingers were on a different level and one player in particular was Joe Rokocoko. You had Dougie Howlett and Sitiveni Sivivatu, but Joe was phenomenal. He had a skill-set that made the game feel effortless. He was incredible."

He added: "I'm pretty lucky that I got to play with some classy wingers, in my time. I'm in a WhatsApp group with a couple of my mates, and there's a good few rugby players. We would chat a lot in it, and sharing videos."

Cane: We are desperate to improve

New Zealand captain Sam Cane says he and his players have been "brutally honest" with each other amid the All Blacks' woeful run of form.

Defeat to South Africa last week pushed the Kiwis to fifth in the world rankings - their lowest position. The 26-10 loss was their biggest loss to the 'Boks in 94 years.

There has been a fair bit of soul searching this week, says Cane, but insists they know where they can hurt the world champions.

“We had a good look at opportunities missed and where we can get better,” Cane told reporters on Tuesday. “We have been brutally honest with each other and it’s never personal, it’s about learning off an individual’s error so the team can get better as well.

“We all know as a group that you can’t just focus on the outcome [result], it is always the process and small steps that go into it that which gives you the outcome you are after.

“The whole role of the leadership group is massively important, I’m really stoked with the way we have been operating off the pitch. We’ll keep working hard. Even though we are not happy with the results ... it’s not through a lack of effort.”

"It’s a hostile environment but we quite like playing in places like this because it tests you,” Cane added. “We are a bit higher [in altitude than last weekend] and the air is a bit thinner, so it is a massive challenge.

“They [the Boks] know their game really well and they execute it extremely well. There were 15-odd contestable kicks and we only took five of them. They gave us a great test at the breakdown.

“We expect them to roll out the same stuff, but we have seen some things on the tape where we can be better. We are desperate to improve.”

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