NEWPORT Gwent Dragons will be parading a record-breaking battalion of New Zealanders when the new season gets under way.

The Dragons now have no less than seven Kiwis in the squad, thought to be the most players any Welsh region has had from a single foreign country. And included in the seven are two former All Blacks.

The Gwent region is doing no more than getting its non-Welsh contingent up to the permitted level, but the men from Down Under are bound to play a massive part in the forthcoming season.

With the arrival during the summer of scrum half Danny Lee and prop Ben Castle it means the Dragons can field just about half a team made up of New Zealanders.

The full list reads - James Arlidge, Danny Lee, Ben Castle, Tom Willis, Nigel Hall, Hoani MacDonald and Grant Webb. Willis will captain the side for the second season running.

l continued from back Some of them have been out of New Zealand for some time - Arlidge playing in Japan for four years, and he still plays for their national side, and Hall spending four years with Nottingham in England Division One, while Webb was with Ulster before joining the Dragons.

The Ospreys and Cardiff Blues also have their share of New Zealanders, the former able to include Jerry Collins, Marty Holah, Filo Tiatia and Jamie Nutbrown, while the Blues can line up with Ben Blair, Xavier Rush, Paul Tito and newcomer Casey Lualua.

The Scarlets have the least number of New Zealanders in their ranks, only Regan King and Deacon Manu among their squad from Down Under.

A large foreign contingent is nothing new at Rodney Parade, of course, for in the early part of this decade Newport benefactor Tony Brown brought a string of overseas players to the ground.

But they were from all over the world, and though the main contingent came from South Africa others were from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Canada.

In season 2001-02 Newport had ten players from overseas in their ranks - Matt Pini, Matt Mostyn, Andy Marinos, Jason Jones-Hughes, Hal Luscombe, Shane Howarth, Ofisa Tonu’u, Rod Snow, Adrian Garvey and Simon Raiwalui.

The Dragons’ New Zealanders: Tom Willis: Hooker, age 30, New Zealand (2 caps), Otago, Highlanders, Waikato Chiefs.

James Arlidge: Outside half, aged 30 on Tuesday, Auckland Blues, Highlanders, Japan.

Danny Lee: Scrum half, age 33, New Zealand (2 caps), Otago, Highlanders, Chiefs, Auckland Blues.

Ben Castle: Prop, age 29, Bay of Plenty, Chiefs, Toulon, Western Force, New Zealand A.

Nigel Hall: Prop, age 30, Otago, New Zealand A, Nottingham.

Hoani MacDonald: Lock or blind side, age 31 next week, Southland, Highlanders, Junior All Blacks, Maoris.

Grant Webb: Back row, age 30 on Tuesday, same day as Arlidge, Otago, Hawkes Bay, Highlanders, Ulster.