Last season: 15th
Head coach: Filo Tiatia
Co-captains: Ben Carter and Angus O’Brien
Key man: Ryan Woodman – The loss of number eight Aaron Wainwright to Leicester is huge but the blind-side flanker can help soften the blow. After facing Barbarians with Wales last summer, the uncapped forward can put himself in the mix for the World Cup.
Prospects: Dragons’ much-improved 2025-26 that has led to them setting a lofty target of being in the mix for the play-offs.
Filo Tiatia’s side made the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup and had the biggest points swing in the URC, claiming 28 after the previous year’s embarrassing tally of nine.
After four draws, Dragons feel that they can push into the race for the top eight.
They will at least want to avoid being Wales’ lowest-ranked side – something they have been in 18 of 23 seasons – and end their 21-game losing streak against closest rivals Cardiff that goes back to 2015.
Dragons made just three signings and only one of them, Tonga wing Anzelo Tu’itavuki, will feature in the first block of the season.
After plenty of summers of upheaval, influential centre Aneurin Owen sees the lack of change as a positive.
“It has meant we have been able to build on last season, we’ve not started from scratch,” he said.
“Changes can be good but they can also be disruptive. We have banked all of the stuff from last season and been able to develop our game a lot more.”
Dragons travel to Benetton but then play five fixtures in Wales before the break for the Nations Championship.
They have home URC derbies against Scarlets and Ospreys, a Challenge Cup opener against Perpignan, an away fixture against Ospreys at the revamped St Helen’s and then a Newport fixture versus Zebre.
“Last year it felt we didn’t get our season going until December when we got a win and confidence grew,” said Owen.
“We need to kick on. There were some promising signs last season, especially in the cup, but we still finished 15th.
“The challenge we have set as a group is to get after it in the league and Europe, and it all starts with this first block. We can get some momentum and belief.”
