Welsh Rugby
Dragons face fight over RWC stars
ESPNscrum Staff
October 19, 2011
Wales' Toby Faletau has his eyes firmly set on the tryline, South Africa v Wales, Rugby World Cup, Wellington Stadium, New Zealand, September 11, 2011
Toby Faletau was one of the outstanding players in the World Cup © Getty Images
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Newport Gwent Dragons have issued a hands-off warning to any potential suitors for the region's World Cup stars.

Dragons trio Dan Lydiate, Toby Faletau and Luke Charteris all shone for Wales side as they reached the penultimate stage of the World Cup. However, the region's team manager Robert Beale admits the trio are in demand but he has backed Newport to fend off any interest.

"Obviously everybody will look at those players who are currently out in New Zealand and probably would love to have them in their squad," Beale said. "They've achieved their ambitions of playing for Wales (and) I guess the next ambition is the next Lions tour.

"It's my job to try and secure the future of all the players that are at the Dragons and in particular what I would consider our major assets. I don't really want to go into detail where they are contractually but they're all contracted here for this coming season and I'm in negotiations thereafter. I'm confident we can retain those players here.

"It's up to us as a business to grow our business to meet the expectations of our players. This business going forward really needs to retain its major assets. The guys are happy playing here, there's an excellent coaching set-up and the facilities are improving."

The Dragons also have hooker Lloyd Burns and winger Aled Brew in Warren Gatland's 30-man party and Beale has already spoken to Charteris to express his pride in how they have performed during the tournament.

"I expressed to Luke how proud we are of all our five players out there," said Beale. "They've put us on the map and in particular Luke, Dan and Toby (who) have been ever present.

"Probably Lloyd and Aled haven't had as much rugby as they would have liked but nonetheless they have been an integral part of that squad in New Zealand. We're really, really delighted with the performance of all of those players."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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