Dean Ryan has vowed Dragons will continue to promote from within and give young stars a chance to shine as he looks to next season and beyond.
Ryan has been pleased with the development of a number of young players this season and the way they have earned opportunities in the Guinness PRO14.
Dragons Academy products Will Talbot-Davies, Rio Dyer, Josh Reynolds, Chris Coleman, Max Williams and Taine Basham are among those to feature prominently in the league.
And after the recent loss to Benetton, Ryan spoke about how the region will continue to follow that pathway to grow depth in the long-term.
“I don’t think it (the Benetton result) was a reality check for us,” said Ryan. “I don’t think we’ve ever not understood the challenge of depth in this group and not understood the chance to keep improving.
“We’re about developing some youngsters, which means they’ve got to learn really quickly.
“That means that sometimes, within any point of development, you’ll be at a time when you’re exposed. The Benetton game was one of those occasions.
“The challenge is to make this the right place for people’s trajectory,” he added. “We want to retain who we’ve got, look to the future and identify those youngsters who are really travelling forward.”
Dragons are back in league action when they face Ulster Rugby in Belfast next Friday evening (March 20).
And Ryan expects to bring some experience back into the team following the conclusion of the Six Nations for Wales.
“We’ve got senior players coming back, so some of the problems we had with lack of clarity (against Benetton) will be resolved by them coming in,” he said.
“Sometimes a senior player with clear direction is enough to get everyone in behind. That was shown a little bit against Benetton so I don’t think the next game is an issue.
“The next game is about us trying to get back into some momentum and into a run of games which is really going to define where we are.”
Dragons are back in action on home soil on Saturday, April 11 (kick-off 7.35pm) when we face Ulster Rugby at Rodney Parade. To buy tickets for the fixture call 01633 674990 or click HERE
We want to retain who we’ve got, look to the future and identify those youngsters who are really travelling forward...
