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https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/news\/he-is-a-big-man-65-wales-back-row-rookie-mackenzie-martin-backed-by-dragons\/ <\/p>\nmens<\/p>\n
united-rugby-championship<\/p>\n
Mackenzie Martin of Wales is tackled during the match between Queensland Reds and Wales at Suncorp Stadium on July 19, 2024 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Matt Roberts\/Getty Images) https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/news\/he-is-a-big-man-65-wales-back-row-rookie-mackenzie-martin-backed-by-dragons\/ <\/p>\n
Dragons boss Filo Tiatia says season-long loanee Mackenzie Martin<\/a> is already proving a smart bit of business and still has plenty of upside to unlock.<\/p>\n The Wales<\/a> back rower, on loan from Cardiff Rugby, has made three outings for the Men of Gwent and caught the eye in last week\u2019s meeting with Leinster, racking up 15 tackles, 13 carries for 49 metres and beating seven defenders.<\/p>\n The 6\u20195, 116kg loose forward who plays principally as a No.8 has been capped five times by Wales at senior level, adding to a pathway that includes twelve Wales U20<\/a> appearances and more than 20 outings for Cardiff before his loan move east.<\/p>\n He\u2019s only played four matches to date with his new side but he\u2019s already impressed the Dragons RFC<\/a> management.\u00a0Tiatia said he has enjoyed working with the Ely-born forward and backed him to kick on as he settles into a pack with more senior heads around him.<\/p>\n \u201cMacca is growing,\u201d said Tiatia. \u201cI was really pleased with his performance (against Leinster).<\/p>\n \u201cThere are areas that he needs to keep tidying up, but he is working hard on that, staying in moments under fatigue.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is a big man, he has just turned 22, and he has got to get his body height right in different collisions and how he can impose himself.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has been awesome to work with. He is still learning his craft, even though he has played for Wales at a young age, and he is keen to grow.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has got the likes of Thomas Young<\/a>, Harrison Keddie<\/a> and Shane Lewis-Hughes<\/a> around him, good loose forwards who have been around for a while to learn from,\u201d said Tiatia.<\/p>\n \u201cConsistency is around building moments, so conditioning is important.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he can have high capacity, in terms of whacking guys, consistently through 80 minutes then he can build. That\u2019s what the Welsh coaches are looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"mens united-rugby-championship Mackenzie Martin of Wales is tackled during the match between Queensland Reds and Wales at Suncorp…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-172331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}