Dragons in advanced talks with head coach Filo Tiatia

Dragons are in advanced talks with head coach Filo Tiatia about a contract extension, the club said on 21 September 2026, with his current deal due to expire at the end of the 2026-27 campaign.

Tiatia joined the club as defence coach in the summer of 2024, was promoted to interim head coach the following November after Dai Flanagan's departure and was appointed on a permanent basis in February 2025; he has previously coached at Auckland and Moana Pasifik and in Japan with Toyota Verblitz and the Sunwolves, and he also joined Ospreys in 2006.

His first season in charge at the Dragons proved difficult: after taking the reins he recorded only one win, that victory coming at Newcastle in the Challenge Cup, and the club finished bottom of the United Rugby Championship (URC) for the first time.

There was clearer progress last season, with three wins and four draws in the URC, although the Dragons were pipped to 14th place by Scarlets on win count and ended the campaign 15th. "We finished 15th but there was progress with 19 more league points and getting to the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup," said chief executive Rhys Blumberg, who has set a target of pushing for the play-offs in the coming campaign. "We really improved and Filo deserves real credit for how much belief he instills in people – that is his superpower. "He is a mentor for the players and gets them to believe they are good enough to compete with anybody."

After stepping up from the defence coach role in 2024-25, Tiatia operated without a dedicated defence coach before bringing in Dale MacLeod last summer, with MacLeod described as effectively acting as his number two. "Dale is an important part of it – he is the yin to Filo's yang," said Blumberg. "You have two fantastic, technically-astute young coaches in Matt O'Brien and Sam Hobbs and other really good support staff. "But Filo and Dale are two senior, experienced figures leading the programme, offering security and guidance."

The Dragons begin their United Rugby Championship campaign at Benetton on Friday, 25 September (19:45 BST), the first of six fixtures in the initial block of the season.

"We'd love to lock Filo in and back him for a long-term future at the Dragons," Blumberg said. "He has definitely got an appetite to stay and we have an appetite to keep him. We will work through that over the next month or so to get something done."