Loyal Dwayne Peel blown away by quality in Bristol’s squad

Dwayne Peel revealed he had no hesitation in turning down a loan move to a top-flight club in favour of jumping aboard Bristol‘s Championship bandwagon.
Bristol’s newly appointed captain, 32 told The Rugby Paper: “The loan option was there but I knew the situation when I signed for Bristol. There was a possibility they wouldn’t go up and although that’s disappointing, I’ve made my decision.
“If I’m honest, when I was first approached I wondered whether I really wanted to step down to the Championship. But when I met Andy Robinson and the other people and asked them what their plans were, it blew me away.
“I’m getting older now and when I gave it some serious thought, it’s a great challenge to be part of what they’re trying to build here, both on and off the pitch. I was really excited and it’s an opportunity I didn’t want to miss.
“We’ve got the full squad in training now, apart from Jack Lam, and it feels like a Premiership squad. That’s the disappointment really because we’ve got quality players who joined over the summer and ones who were already here. But I’m really looking forward to it. We’ve got a big challenge and Worcester have obviously come down with a big team, while Leeds and others will be strong, but the quality signings are a statement of where we want to be.”
On being awarded the captaincy, Peel added: “I’m obviously happy with it. Andy spoke to me a couple of weeks ago and it’s a privilege to be named.
“I captained quite a bit at the Scarlets and bring a lot of experience, so I’ll look forward to doing it.
“But it doesn’t mean you can take your place for granted and there’s very good competition here.
“Craig Hampson’s settled in well from Leeds and Luke Baldwin’s a good player, so it’s great to have that depth within our squad.”
Peel, meanwhile, believes Wales‘s Rugby World Cup 2015 prospects could be damaged irreparably unless the Welsh Rugby Union and the regions come to an accord quickly and sign up to a new long-term participation agreement.
Scrum-half Peel, who won 76 caps, says he feels for players such as Sam Warburton and Adam Jones, who find themselves caught up in the dispute, and has urged the powers-that-be to see sense before the Wales team becomes affected. “It’s a mess,” Peel said. “It’s not helpful to anyone and the quicker they can get an agreement, the better it will be for Welsh rugby.
“It’s not great for the guys who are caught in the middle and while you can see things from both sides of the table, they need to find some common ground and move on. Then, whatever decision is made they have to be united and pull together.
“They have to make it work because we can’t have another couple of years of this or another bust-up down the line.
“It could easily affect the World Cup so people need to look at the bigger picture and make sure it does not detract from that.”
NEALE HARVEY
*This article was first published in The Rugby Paper on July 27.