“Kevin will have an operation next week and will be out for four months which effectively rules him out for the rest of the season,” commented Dragons Rugby Manager Jim McCreedy. “It is a bitter blow for Morgan as he is an influential player both for The Dragons and Wales, we wish him a speedy recovery.”

Meanwhile Nathan Brew has also been ruled out for eight weeks after suffering a broken thumb in the same match. Brew has suffered the same injury as Hal Luscombe did in October and will have an operation tomorrow (Friday).

“It is a further blow to have Nathan out for two months especially as he has just returned from injury and was showing signs of his form when he was capped by Wales. He will undergo an operation on Friday but will not be available to us until early March and again we wish him a speedy recovery.”

While understandably to lose players of this calibre at a crucial time for The Dragons is a blow, out of adversity comes opportunity.

The likes of home grown Welsh talent in Aled Thomas, Gareth Chapman, Richard Fussell, Gethin Robinson, Andrew Brown and Chris Davies who made his debut against the Blues now have an opportunity to show their talents and gain valuable experience at the highest levels.

“From the outset of the season we said that wherever possible we would use emerging Welsh talent and this gives the younger players of our squad such an opportunity to do so and show what they have got. To date some of those players have shown that given this experience and coupled with time they will go onto become fully-fledged Regional players. They have done very well given that they have not had the senior players in the team to learn from at crucial times and emphasises the need for strength in depth,” said Jim McCreedy.