The Dragons have brought back two more highly promising Welsh age grade internationals on senior academy contracts.
Hot on the heels of the signing of Wales Under 20 skipper Harry Beddall from Leicester Tigers and extending the contracts of Wales U20 forwards Nick Thomas and Evan Minto, the ‘Men of Gwent’ have captured Wales U19 front row duo Codi Purnell and James Talami.
Tight head prop Purnell, who weighs in at 140kg and is 6ft 3in tall, is a former pupil of Millfield School pupil who joins from Bath Rugby. He played for the Bath side in the Premiership U18 final this year.
Hard-running and abrasive hooker Talamai joins from Saracens U18. A pupil at Harrow School he was vice captain of the side that won the National Schools title at Twickenham for the second year in a row this season.
Talamai played for Cwmbran mini and juniors alongside current Dragons Academy member Tiehie Chatham and is part of a famous sporting family. His his uncle is Sione Tu’ipulotu, who for Dragons, Newport and Caerphilly.
Both players featured for Wales U19 against Ireland last weekend at Aberavon, where Purnell was a second half try scorer.
“It’s great that two young Welsh players have chosen us as the best place to continue their development into the senior game,” said Dragons’ academy manager Lewis Roberts.
“We are excited by their potential, and they join a very promising crop of young front rowers coming through our Academy system.
“With both currently representing Wales in the U19 programme, we look forward to seeing them in action before joining our set-up in the summer.”