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Dragons fans hope for revival under Ryan
By Josh Raisey
Former Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan was confirmed as the Dragons new director of rugby on Tuesday, leaving his post with the RFU.
The six-cap England international has been head of international player development for the past three years, but will now oversee matters with the struggling Welsh region.
The Dragons have just faced a turbulent season, finishing second from bottom in their PRO14 conference. Head coach Bernard Jackman lost his job midway through the season and was replaced by interim head coach Ceri Jones. The arrival of Ryan may open the door for a new head coach, but nothing has been confirmed as the club seek some stability.
The Welsh regions have struggled on the whole this season, with none making the Champions Cup quarter-finals, and none making the PRO14 play-offs. However, out of all four regions, the Dragons have been struggling the most.
Ryan is a character with a lot of experience that could oversee a change with the Dragons. That is what many fans are hoping on Twitter, with some new signings seeming to be a priority. This is what the Dragons fans have said:
Ryan has had spells coaching Bristol, Gloucester and Worcester, with the most success coming with the Cherry and Whites over a decade ago. He turned Gloucester into one of the forces in English rugby, and perhaps did not earn the sufficient silverware that he deserved.
While his time with Worcester afterwards was not as successful, he would have nonetheless built a lot of experience which may be prove to be invaluable at Rodney Parade. He has a job on his hands, but it is something that he must be relishing to take him out of a position with the RFU.
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Latest Comments
Look there are a few unarguable facts here that are very clear. SARU was close to bankruptcy with SR, bailed out by the Lions and they need the URC and EPCR. Inclusion of SA teams in URC has been a great for for ALL concerned, from a rugby perspective and financially, moreover there is massive growth yet to come. The GP is in financial trouble and this will be the catalyst for EPCR change to further cement the Boks.
If this all plays out with even greater rewards for the urc AND the Top14 & GP via EPCR, the 6N will become 7N. Nz and Aus NEED to get their version firing with Japan & the PI’s, otherwise they will find themselves increasingly regressing…
Go to commentsPerofeta came back and was available for the eoyt right? Or was that why Love was in the squad (but got injured in the last week)?
It was such a frustrating year. Perofeta looked a service stop gap until Jordan was fit, but then got injured. Plummer was selected because of Pero's injury and dmac shat the bed in the second half in Australia but Clarke (?) got himself binned at the 65 min mark so Plummer couldn't come on (at least with the risk adverse Razors thinking) when he was planned to.
So many other exciting opportunities that could have happened without injuries, but then theyre probably balanced by knowing Sititi probably wouldn't have been given a chance without multiple injuries happened.
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