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The Dragons are back. Sporting a new attitude with their International Rugby League (IRL) championship, the Locke Harbour Dragons wasted no time in proving that they would be back with a vengeance this year after their 27-7 victory over the Athens Invaders at Champions Heaven Stadium last night.

Boosted by a sell out crowd of over 68 thousand, the Dragons were able to use their pack and bury their opponents ruck after ruck to the delight of the crowd. Within five minutes the Dragons had their first score after a five metre scrum in the Invader end was pushed past the try line where 8-man Owen Clarke put the ball down for the first score.

After a successful conversion the Dragon pack on the ensuing kick off collected the ball and again rucked their way down until flanker Matthew Brinde, recently returning from an injury, grasped the ball and plowed through for a 14-0 lead with the conversion.

Coach Keith Wright meanwhile was bursting with pride by this point. Prior to the match he had commented that his forward pack, which had been decimated with injury during their IRL championship run, was just recently back together and so he was concerned whether they would play as a tight unit. Needless to say he was not disappointed.

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'...Hutson, Clarke, Portskow, they're all back from injury! With [coach] Wright, we can't lose...'

-Delirious Dragon fan after yesterday's victory.

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The 33rd minute again it was the Locke Harbour forward pack who were bashing through what Invader defense existed until another IRL injured troop, Lock Tom Marlin, barreled through the Invader line for the 3rd try of the day for the Dragons. That gave the Dragons an outstanding 21-0 lead with the convert. Entering halftime, the Dragons, having increased their lead to 24-0 with a drop goal from Inside Centre Sam Walley, were on fire.

The Invaders tried to regroup after the half and were able to score one quick try and convert to pull them to within 17, however from there the Dragons went into a defensive shell, hitting and rucking every chance they got.

The score remained 24-7 for most of the rest of the half until a penalty kick in the 85th minute helped to further increase the Dragon lead to 27-7 which ended up to be the final score.

Though just an exhibition game, the Dragons meant to send a message to the rest of the league that they were back to reclaim their title. It should be interesting to see whether the Dragons are able to keep that message intact as they begin the season next Sunday against the Locke Harbour South Blues.

Meanwhile in other exhibition news around the league from yesterday:

-In Magna Carta the Crusaders were able to completely control the Blues in nearly every aspect as they came away with a 28-3 victory.

-In Stanislav the Lions were mauled by the defending champions the Lenita Legions 35-0 in a truly one sided affair.

-The Pearson Cliffs Pirates served notice to the league yesterday after completely destroying the Workers Point Bobcats 52-0 in a match that at no point was close. The Pirates were able to score 8 tries, 6 converts, and held possession for 79% of the entire match in what was complete domination for their side.

-In Viscount Bennett, the Imperialists provided the only true upset of the exhibition matches from yesterday. They managed a last second try and convert to defeat the 2005 league finalists Peace Warriors 27-25 in a spirited match.

Dragon forwards dominated most of the line outs during their victory yesterday against the Athens Invaders..