WELSH Rugby Union chief executive Martyn Phillips has declared that the Dragons are ahead of schedule despite their on-field woes in the first season under the control of the governing body.

This time last year the WRU were waiting to get the green light from the shareholders of Newport RFC to buy the Black and Ambers’ historic Rodney Parade home and take ownership of the region.

They were given the go-ahead on May 9 and paid £2.85million for the nine-acre site with Newport RFC getting a cash sum of £600,000.

The governing body made a swift change by replacing head coach Kingsley Jones with Bernard Jackman but the Irishman has had a challenging first year at the helm.

The Dragons have won just two games in the Guinness PRO14 and only the Southern Kings have a worse record.

However, Phillips is encouraged by the progress made off the field led by chairman David Buttress, who joined in September and formed a new board in October.

“We are probably slightly ahead of where I thought we would be,” said Phillips, who joined the WRU in 2015.

“I know there is a lot of attention on performance on the pitch, and that’s got to be a factor, but that’s not where my focus goes, it’s on the foundations and getting the right things in place.

“We have got a board in place that we are pleased with and are delighted with David and the enthusiasm and energy that he has brought.

“The board have a strategy in place now and a very good commercial plan that I have seen in the last few weeks. From a business and commercial perspective we are in very good hands.”

The Dragons have endured their worst season of results and Phillips knows a dramatic upturn is needed to ensure financial sustainability, but urges patience.

“The first thing for a coach is always the player roster and some easy and some not so easy decisions to be made,” he said.

“Bernard has not shirked that and has grasped the nettle. It’s outside my area of expertise, but he has put a lot of energy into that and there will be quite a different squad for next year.

“My job is looking at whether in three to five years something will work, and if I look at a match by match situation I will get lured into the wrong thing.

“Of course, it would have been nice to win a couple more games and next year that will be needed.

“But right from the outset we said it would take three to five years to get something moving with solid foundations.

“I am not interested in short-term wins and throwing money at it; we have been very disciplined.

“They have to get better but we need to be patient as well and let’s not think they are going to be vying for the title next year.”

And Phillips believes the Dragons can learn from the approach taken by the champions out west.

“Wayne Pivac is in his fourth season at the Scarlets,” he said. “In his first it was all about who was going to be in the squad, things were a bit better in the second, third year they went ahead of expectations and then this year they have gone again.

“The Scarlets were pretty disciplined back at the start about how they did it, so like them we are not trying to chase the short term.”

Former Newbridge full-back and Cross Keys director of rugby Jonathan Westwood joined the Dragons from Heineken to head up the commercial team in February while an announcement about a new managing director is imminent.