AFTER bombarding Gavin Henson with questions, Arwel Robson hopes to come up with a few answers of his own on his first Dragons start on Saturday.

The 20-year-old will wear 10 on his back for the first time when he pulls the strings in the Anglo-Welsh Cup opener against Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens (kick-off 5.15pm).

Robson has been able to turn to some pretty useful former fly-halves for advice in recent years after being coached by Craig Warlow at Newport, Jason Strange with Wales Under-20s and Shaun Connor at the Dragons.

And now the self-confessed incessant enquirer is loving learning from double Grand Slam winning former Wales playmaker Henson, who arrived at Rodney Parade from Bristol in the summer.

“It’s a bit surreal, when he was playing for the Lions [in 2005] I wasn’t even playing rugby at that time!” said Robson, who first played the game at Penallta a punt away from the Dragons’ Ystrad Mynach training base.

“I am training and playing with him and I love picking his brain – Gav has so much experience and it’s always good to see what I can learn. It’s great having him in camp and he is a really good bloke who is good with us youngsters.

“I will ask him about stuff and he will sit down with me and have a chat about where I am going wrong or what I can be doing. It’s refreshing to see how humble he is.

“I do ask a lot of questions – they say that I talk a lot! But I like to pick the brains of other people and like to know other peoples’ roles as well because that’s important as a 10.

“Maybe it’s a bit annoying sometimes but if you’re asking questions then you are learning!

“I ask Gav things all the time, and Angus O’Brien and Dorian Jones, because everyone sees the game differently. Zane Kirchner coached the British & Irish Cup team and I picked his brains as well.

“You bring all those bits together then and make your own game… the hard bit is then putting them into practice.”

Robson made a Guinness PRO14 debut as a replacement at Munster last weekend after returning from summer operation on a long-standing hip complaint.

Now he will get a chance against the Saints and is relishing another Anglo-Welsh Cup encounter on East Midlands soil after making his Dragons bow in front of 18,750 against Leicester in the development competition last November.

“Us youngsters all really look forward to the Anglo-Welsh, it’s a chance that we don’t sometimes get in the PRO14,” said Robson, who represented his country in the World Rugby U20 Championship last summer.

“Last year was a really good experience in front of nearly a full house at Leicester Tigers – the atmosphere was incredible.

“I am looking forward to going to Northampton to experience it again because I was lucky enough to go to watch the pre-season game when there was still 6,000 people there.”

That August friendly didn’t go to plan as a youthful and inexperienced Dragons side, comprised of those that had not featured against Montpellier in France the previous evening, was smashed 71-21 by the Saints.

Northampton used their whole squad and crossed for 11 tries after exploiting weary Welsh legs, stretching from 26-21 ahead with half an hour left to a 50-point win.

“It looked worse than it was because after 40 minutes we were well in the game,” said Robson.

“It was tough when they were bringing on international players while we’d had another game in Montpellier the day before and had players from the Premiership.

“But we’ve got a strong team out this weekend with a mixture of experience and some youngsters, so we will go there with confidence.

“We have got a chance to express ourselves, if it’s on to have a go then we will but we’ve also got our structures to stick to.

“I want to get some game time under my belt, hopefully the Anglo-Welsh will go well and then I can push for a place in the 23 for PRO14 and Challenge Cup.”

The Dragons name their side at midday on Friday with Robson’s Wales Under-20s teammate Joe Goodchild, a wing, set to feature for the first time while sevens international Ben Roach will enjoy a first start at openside after being a replacement at Munster.