Shane Lewis-Hughes has become the fifth Welsh international to sign a new deal to remain with the Dragons at Rodney Parade.
The 28-year-old follows in the footsteps of fellow caps Rio Dyer, Chris Coleman, Brodie Coghlan and Matthew Screech is pledging his future to the Men of Gwent. He joined the club ahead of the 24/25 season and has so far made 36 appearances, scoring four tries.
Scrum half Che Hope, full back Angus O’Brien, hooker Oli Burrows and wing David Richards have all signed new deals.
Capable of playing across the back row and in the second row, Lewis-Hughes featured 19 times during his first campaign, finishing third in the URC Ironman Award, amassing 1,353 minutes across the season.
“The boys have been a pleasure to work with since being here. I played a lot of rugby last year which was really pleasing,” said Lewis-Hughes.
“Unfortunately, I picked up a few injuries towards the back end of the season, but that’s the game we play. It’s been really good to see how far we’ve come as a team this year and hopefully we can keep improving into next season.”
Lewis-Hughes made 17 appearances for the club in the past season and senior coach Sam Hobbs is delighted the Pontypridd-born forward will remain a key part of the club’s plans.
“I think Shane’s been a real quality addition to us over the last couple of seasons. He’s really experienced, a real tough mindset, who’s added a lot to the quality of our back rowers over the last couple of years and been a strong leader for us,” said Hobbs.
“Shane can cover multiple positions, even second row in emergencies and has good quality with his lineout understanding, is excellent at the maul and is very good in the contact area over the ball.
“Moving forward, he’s got aspirations to push back into the international game, and I think we can get him there.”