NEWPORT Gwent Dragons boss Kingsley Jones says they will show ambition in the transfer market – once they have secured the current talent on their books, writes Chris Kirwan.

The Dragons yesterday confirmed that Ed Jackson has signed a fresh deal that will take him through to 2019 after the number eight turned down offers to return to the Aviva Premiership.

The Rodney Parade region are working to agree contract extensions with a number of leading players and are confident of South African forwards Rynard Landman and Brok Harris, who become Welsh-qualified next season, putting pen to paper despite interest from regional rivals.

Jones believes their current crop of overseas players and potential new recruits can help their talented Welsh contingent to flourish.

"Our non-Welsh players bring a lot to the changing room," said the head coach. "Take Brok Harris, he's an outstanding character and never misses a training session.

"He is a role model for any young player and that's the sort of player we need in the environment. He leads by having high standards when he plays but there's much more to the professional game than the weekend, it's about how they behave and live through the week.

"Nick Crosswell is similar. What's important when you bring a foreign player in is what they bring to the environment, players can look and learn from how they train, play and behave."

The Dragons are working to retain their current crop, then will tip into the transfer market and are already eyeing a southern hemisphere player whose contract expires at the end of the next Super Rugby season.

"I've met with a couple of players and their agents, getting them over the line is the difficult challenge but we need to show our ambition," said Jones.

"The players that we are targeting are good enough to have the choice of going to a number of teams so we need to make the right sell but they need to be the right person for us. We are working hard."