THE Welsh Rugby Union have carried out their promise to drop Newport and Gwent to become simply the Dragons by launching a new logo.

The ‘refreshed’ badge is not dramatically different to the old Dragon’s tail other than the absence of the two geographical names.

WRU chief executive Martyn Phillips revealed before the takeover was given the green light that their intention was to simply become the Dragons.

That has now been carried out ahead while there are plans for pre-season training sessions at grounds around the region.

The Dragons will retain their playing colours of a predominantly black home kit and ‘Monmouthshire blue’ away jersey for the coming campaign, manufactured by Gilbert. However, in future campaigns there is likely to be a move towards red and amber.

The WRU will take control of the Dragons next Tuesday and Phillips, after appointing Bernard Jackman as head coach, is now working towards appointing a new chairman to replace Martyn Hazell and a fresh board.

He said: “After Bernard’s appointment the next key thing is to get a chairman in place and I am pretty busy working on that, then to get a board in place once we have got a chairman.

“We would want it to be a pretty small and agile board. We would want good diversity, certain types of expertise that we think will help take the Dragons forward and we’d like a Gwent flavour.

“I am not in a huge rush and think we have plenty of horsepower just now to get the plan moving. We will take our time to get it right.

“I think small is beautiful in terms of boards. It won’t be my call, it will be the chairman’s, but if I had an influence it would be five or six people.

“The Dragons is the professional entity for Gwent, so what we will be looking for is a high-quality board to run the Dragons but also to be very integrated in rugby in Gwent.

“Whether supporters, coaches, players, trying to join that rugby pyramid up was one of the attractions of getting involved here.”

Work starts next week on improving the drainage of the Rodney Parade pitch ahead of the laying of the pallets of Desso turf. In addition, a 3G surface is going to be put down around the perimeters of the playing area.

The Football League accepted a request from Newport County to not play any home games until August 26 with fixtures either switched or postponed.