Dragons’ Ryan hits out over regions’ budgets

DRAGONS boss Dean Ryan has opened up on his frustration at still not knowing his playing budget for next season.

The four regions remain in the dark over exactly how much money they will have to spend as talks with the Welsh Rugby Union continue.

That, in turn, leaves some out-ofcontract players facing an uncertain future.

Payments from the Union were slashed from £26m to £3m for this term due to the financial impact of Covid, with a £20m bank loan being taken out to make up the shortfall.

It’s still unclear what the figure will be for next season, leaving the pro teams in a challenging position.

The Dragons’ playing budget for this term was £4.8m, with the Scarlets on around £8m, Cardiff Blues on £6.8m and the Ospreys around £6.3m.

Ryan is waiting to see what he will have to play with next season.

“We still don’t know what our funding is,” said the director of rugby.

“There are some figures banded around, but they are not final figures from my understanding.

“They are impossible to work towards because they are figures that have changed and are continuing to be negotiated.

“It’s May. You normally look to get business done by January.

“We haven’t been able to chase and add players because I can’t commit to things on budgets that I don’t understand.

“It’s just impossible to recruit when you are in May and not understanding fully what your parameters of spend are.

“If you are going after key marquee players, you need to be working at them for six to eight months prior to bringing them in and you can’t do that when you don’t know what your budgets are.”

Ryan continued: “Sadly, we are leaving people to very late stages in their contracts which creates huge amount of instability to their personal lives.

“It’s a very difficult space to sit in. “My chairman is fully aware of the challenges we face and he is feeding them into PRB (Professional Rugby Board).”

Ryan says the uncertainty makes it all the more difficult for the regions to improve results.

“You can’t be in May not knowing what your budgets are and then looking at taking significant steps forward,” he said.

“That’s just not possible at the moment.

“People don’t know what their funding is. All you can do is create the core of your group that you need to be stable with.”

On that front, the Dragons have extended the stays of international duo Dan Baker and Gonzalo Bertranou.

Former Ospreys No.8 Baker and Argentine scrum-half Bertranou both came on board in February on short-term deals until the end of the season.