AFTER completing a clean sweep of the Welsh regions at the age of 26 and also enjoying a spell in the Aviva Premiership with Gloucester, Tavis Knoyle has declared it's time to settle down at Rodney Parade.

The scrum-half has already crammed a lot into his career with 11 caps to his name, one of which was won at the 2011 World Cup, and five professional clubs.

However, the past few years have been a bit too quiet for his liking and it has taken a move to Newport Gwent Dragons to get back out in the middle.

Knoyle signed for Cardiff Blues from Gloucester in the summer of 2014 but hadn't featured for Danny Wilson's side since their shock 13-7 defeat at Treviso in February. The Dragons came calling in October and the scrum-half jumped at the chance to make the short trip east.

"It's been tough over the past few years. It's been hard and I just want to settle now," said Knoyle, who was swiftly flung into the action in the Dragons' European Rugby Challenge Cup embarrassment at the hands of Enisei in Krasnodar.

"I bit (head coach) Kingsley Jones' hand off when the chance came, I didn't think twice about it. It's great just to play."

The spell in the capital was an odd one with Knoyle making 14 of his 32 appearances off the bench while one of his starts came in midfield at Rodney Parade when the Dragons triumphed in the quarter-finals of the European Rugby Challenge Cup.

Things didn't work out in Cardiff but the scrum-half isn't short of perspective thanks to his previous job in the coal industry at Banwen Colliery.

"I wasn't in an academy, I wasn't given anything. I know what it's like to be up at 5am and clocking in at 6am," he said.

"It's been tough but it's a business and you just have to do whatever at 100 per cent and enjoy it for what it is," he continued. "One of my mates is (former Wales and Scarlets full-back) Morgan Stoddart, who was a class player but had to retire at a young age.

"It's a roller-coaster ride. Stephen Jones always told me at the Scarlets, and I learnt so much off him, that sometimes you are man of the match or on a run of great games and others you could be injured or not playing.

"You have to find a balance where you don't go berserk if you are happy and don't dwell on it too much when low, just keep plugging away.

"Things haven't been going my way but I can't point the finger at anyone else, I've just got to look at myself and now I have a great opportunity. I am enjoying training here, I am enjoying learning and I want to keep my head down.

"It's a short career, 10 or 15 years at the most if you are lucky. I am going to have to go back to work when I retire and I don't want to look back and think 'if only I'd stayed in that night' or 'if only I'd done a bit extra'."

When Knoyle took to the field in Russia he ticked off all of the regions after making a solitary appearance for the Ospreys – "I was only 10 mins at the Ospreys! They had seven scrum-halves at the time!" – and then making his name at the Scarlets where he first earned international honours, making his debut against a Dan Carter-inspired New Zealand in Dunedin in 2010.

He has signed a Dragons deal through to the summer of 2018 and is relishing the chance to make Rodney Parade home as he battles with Sarel Pretorius and Charlie Davies, who is currently sidelined with a thumb injury, for the 9 jersey.

"It's taken a couple of weeks to get used to calls – knowing them and doing them are totally different and you gain confidence as the weeks go on," said Knoyle, poised for a sixth Dragons outing against Edinburgh on Sunday.

"There's competition like any club – Sarel's so quick and lively – but it's up to me to express myself. You learn off different people all the time and I'll try and take little bits from Sarel's game and little bits from Charlie's.

"I am 26 and still young. I've learnt an awful lot over the last couple of years and hopefully I can push on now.

"We have a licence to play and try things here. I'm going to play with a smile on my face."