Ryan fears Dragons will flop without extra funding
DRAGONS director of rugby Dean Ryan has called on the WRU to improve his team’s financial backing or risk seeing the men from Newport fall away in the new PRO16.
The Rodney Parade side come in last behind their regional rivals Cardiff Blues, Ospreys and Scarlets when it comes to the amount of central funding they receive from the WRU.
Before Covid-19 struck, Dragons were operating on an annual budget of circa £3.4m behind Cardiff (£4.9m,) Ospreys (£5.3m) and Scarlets (£6m).
Dragons are owned by the WRU unlike their rivals, but with the competition in which they play set to be improved by South African involvement, he knows his team can’t stand still.
“What we’ve been consistent in asking for is that over a four or fiveyear period that our funding model can get somewhere towards parity and start moving towards a competitive level in this league,” Ryan said.
“At the moment we’re not funded to a competitive level. We prioritise developing youngsters, but if we look forward, it’s not just about September, but the next two, three or four years. We need to get an understanding our funding is stable and is moving towards the other three regions and other teams in the competition.
“If it’s not, then really you’re asking us to wave a magic wand. We can continue to develop people, but if we’re going to compete at the highest table, I think we need a complete relook about how we’re going to do that. This competition is ramping up and our ability to compete week in, week out needs looking at very closely.”
Ryan has vastly
improved the Dragons and his team host Edinburgh today needing a big win to seal a place in next season’s Champions Cup. Dragons are fifth in Conference A and need to win by 45 points to overtake fourth-placed Glasgow.
Wales squad members Aaron Wainwright, Elliot Dee and Leon Brown are all back but Jamie Roberts (knee) and Ollie Griffiths (bicep) miss out.
Edinburgh coach Richard Cockerill says pride will be a big motivator for his side.
“With the Champions Cup now out of our reach, we go into this game playing for pride – pride in ourselves and pride in the shirt we’ll pull on,” he said.