NEWPORT Gwent Dragons have made their first signing ahead of the 2005-2006 campaign in the shape of Scottish international lock Andrew Hall.

But the Midlands-born 26-year-old, surprisingly released by Glasgow Rugby at the end of last season, will figure as a No 6 for the Dragons, having also played there.

New Dragons senior coach Paul Turner told the Argus: "I knew of Andrew when I was at Bedford in 1998. He was one of two Moseley back row players I was interested in, the other being a certain Peter Buxton (later to join Newport).

"He subsequently moved to lock and moved to Glasgow but on the most recent Australia tour Matt Williams and Todd Blackadder used him as a No 6, which is where we have signed him to play.

"He is a ball carrier and gives us a lineout option and we are delighted to have secured the services of a young international, albeit capped just the once.

"It was a stroke of luck that he became available as he was due to join Narbonne in France but the move fell through."

Hall has joined the Dragons, whom he has played against on several occasions, on a two-year contract.

He joined Glasgow Rugby as a contracted player in August 2001 and his first competitive game was against Bridgend in the Celtic League 15 days later.

He qualifies for Scotland through his paternal grandfather who was born in Falkirk and won his Scottish cap as a replacement against the USA in San Francisco in 2002 after becoming a late call-up for that North American tour.

His first international outing was for Scotland A in a 21-18 win over Romania at Rubislaw in November 2002 and he also played for Scotland A in their 45-29 win over Fiji and subsequently in games against England A and Italy A.

He has played in 104 games for Glasgow, scoring two tries and a dropped goal, the latter against the Celtic Warriors at Bridgend in November 2003.

This January he became only the second player to appear in fifty Celtic League games when he went on as a replacement against the Ospreys at Hughenden, beaten to the milestone an hour earlier by the Ospreys' Andrew Millward.

His first senior club was Moseley, for whom he played fifty games between 1998 and 2001. He has also played in the past for Scotland Under-21, Scottish Students and the Scottish Development squad, including an outstanding game for the latter in a win at Neath in 2001.