NEW dad Taine Basham has been backed to give rivals sleepless nights when the Dragons return from a United Rugby Championship break.

The 11-times capped Wales back rower, player of the 2021 autumn series, suffered a dislocated elbow at Cardiff in mid-October.

Basham returned ahead of schedule against the Scarlets on New Year’s Day and made his fourth appearance on the spin when scoring a try against Glasgow last Saturday.

The 23-year-old has missed out on the Six Nations due to Warren Gatland’s back row riches with Dragons teammate Aaron Wainwright joined by greats Taulupe Faletau and Justin Tipuric plus the talented up-and-comers Jac Morgan, Tommy Reffell and Christ Tshiunza.

Basham will look to push back into the fold in World Cup year and his club boss believes he will prosper from a good work-life balance after becoming father to Tomas in December.

South Wales Argus: TRY: Dragons back rower Taine Basham crossed for a try against GlasgowTRY: Dragons back rower Taine Basham crossed for a try against Glasgow (Image: Huw Evans Agency)

“I will keep getting more out of Taine,” said Dragons head coach Dai Flanagan. “He is a new dad and is now experiencing the world of lack of sleep.

“We all love Taine and we will get the most out of him because he is a superstar. His injury fell in the middle of life! He had the birth of his child while we were out in South Africa.

“Learning to live off six hours sleep instead of nine is tough for any human, let alone a professional athlete.

“We are here to help him get through that I am very open with him – if he needs an extra hour here or there [at home] then he can take it because we want what is best for him.

“We try to accommodate players by, for example, allowing them to do their gym sessions at a different time of the day. I’ve been in the game long enough to see how the birth of a child can affect people.

“Look at him now and he is in such a good space mentally with the way that his life is going. We will see the improvements in his game and you can see with the moments that he has, he is still Taine Basham.”

The Dragons’ next game is a daunting trip to Leinster on Saturday, February 18 before a home game against Connacht on Saturday, March 4.

They then have the URC run-in after the Six Nations plus the knockout stages of the European Challenge Cup, with their last-16 away game at Glasgow on April 1.