MAJOR CHANGES ON CARDS AT DRAGONS

THE Dragons are set to undergo a major coaching shake-up this summer, according to reports.

The Rugby Paper says director of rugby Dean Ryan may move upstairs into more of a mentoring role, while retaining his place on the board of the WRU-owned region.

If so, that would leave room for a new head coach to lead a team who have had a woeful season and finished their campaign without a single Rodney Parade win after the 11-21 loss to the Lions.

The Dragons are bringing in a plethora of new players and Scarlets backs coach David Flanagan is one of the names being linked as a possibility to lead the side.

He is Dwayne Peel’s No. 2 at the moment but could be offered the job as a number one.

Also being linked with the role is former Wales Grand Slam winner Jonathan Thomas, who has left his job in charge of Worcester Warriors.

Meanwhile, Wales are sweating on the fitness of Scarlets fly-half Rhys Patchell after he limped off against the Stormers with a hamstring injury – just days after earning a muchawaited Test recall.

The 29-year-old looked despondent as he made his way from the pitch shortly after coming on as a second-half replacement in the 26-21 defeat on Saturday night.

Wales boss Wayne Pivac will be left sweating on the news about Patchell.

Were the fly-half to miss out on the summer tour for South Africa it would be a cruel blow, having just been called up to a Wales squad for the first time since the autumn of 2020.

Scarlets coach Peel said he was unsure about the severity of Patchell’s injury at this stage and more will be known in the coming days.

Dan Biggar and Gareth Anscombe are the other fly-halves in Pivac’s squad to take on the world champions this summer, with Bristol Bears playmaker Callum Sheedy the likely option to replace Patchell if he is ruled out.

Johnny Williams, who was also named in the Wales squad after missing the Six Nations, left the field for a head injury assessment, and also appeared to have a sustained a hand injury prior to that.

However, Peel said that the centre was “fine”.