Ross Moriarty Gloucester exit and new club confirmed
In a major statement of intent, Head Coach Bernard Jackman has secured the marquee signing of British & Irish Lions tourist and Wales star Ross Moriarty on a two-year deal with the Dragons.
The 23-year-old will arrive at Rodney Parade next season, strengthening the back-row with his dynamic style, after signing a contract directly with the region over the weekend.
“It is with much excitement that I am able to announce the completion of my transfer to Welsh regional side, the Dragons,” commented Ross, who is renowned for his big tackles, impressive carries and devastating breaks.
“After meeting with Bernard Jackman, I was excited by the future plans of the club as the region looks to begin a new chapter in its history. Playing international rugby is the pinnacle of every player’s career and with the new rules, it left me with no choice but to move to Wales to further my international ambitions, especially with the Rugby World Cup ahead.”
The son of former international Paul Moriarty, who won 21-caps for Wales, and nephew to Richard who played 22-times for his country, Ross was selected for international honours for England at age grade level, but opted for Wales and made his debut against Ireland in August 2015, scoring his first international try later that season against Italy on his Six Nations debut.
Twice voted Young player of the year by Gloucester’s supporters, his excellent form for club and country earned him a call-up for the British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand last summer. The Welsh international was selected for the Lions’ opening match against New Zealand Provincial Barbarians and made a valuable contribution helping set up a try, but was ruled out of further action for the tourists due to injury.
“I would like to thank Gloucester, specifically the players and coaching staff, for their continued support throughout my seven years at the club as well as Hartpury College who provided me with the foundations to achieve my goals,” Moriarty added. “Furthermore, I would like to thank the fans for their continued support. They have made the decision to move to Wales extremely difficult.
“I am now looking forward to finishing the season off strongly and teaming up with Bernard Jackman and the Dragons at the start of next season.”
Moriarty joins fellow Welsh internationals Elliot Dee and Leon Brown, as well as home-grown talent Jack Dixon who have all recently put pen to paper to extend their time with the Dragons.
“I am delighted to have been able to convince Ross to join us as we build our team for the future,” added Dragons Head Coach Bernard Jackman.
“It’s a significant signing and a real reinforcement of how players are perceiving this region now. He is the perfect fit for us in terms of the type of player that we are looking to add to our squad in that he is young, ambitious, Welsh and very talented. We are building a team for the long term and to be able to get a player of Ross’s calibre, who is only 23, is an example of that.
“Speaking to Ross it’s clear that we have the same values and philosophies on how the game should be played and I know that he will add to the local talent that’s already here. We are proud of the fact that some more Dragons are now starting to break into the Welsh squad and we will continue to work hard to develop more international players from within and that will be easier when they have the chance to work day in and day out with world-class players like Ross.”
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments