WALES and Dragons prop Leon Brown has made a £500 donation to St Joseph’s High School in Newport as part of his new Rodney Parade contract.

The 21-year-old from Maesglas, who won caps against Australia, Georgia and New Zealand this autumn, visited his old school with Dragons head coach Bernard Jackman.

The tighthead presented a cheque to head teacher Trevor Brown and head of PE Stefan Sankala.

The donation is part of a policy that will see homegrown players who have recently penned fresh contracts giving funds to a local school or team of their choice.

Brown said: “I am a proud St Joey’s boy and the work the Mr Sankala is doing here with the PE department was something that I wanted to support, so the decision to give the money to my old high school was made pretty quickly on my part.”

Sankala, who is also backs coach at Principality Premiership club Bedwas RFC, added: “This is such a great initiative and we are proud that Leon was a pupil at this school and chose us for his donation.

“We have his Wales jersey hanging proudly in the school alongside his Wales U20s jersey and a Dragons jersey kindly donated to us by Lewis Evans, another former pupil.

“It was a wonderful opportunity for some of our pupils to meet Leon and Bernard Jackman, who were both able to give us an insight into the Dragons future plans. We can’t wait to have him back to show him what we have done with the money.”

Jackman hopes that giving a little back to those that have supported the development of the top talent in his squad will help nurture future Dragons.

“Thankfully [chairman] David Buttress, the new board and I have a shared vision. We want to unite the region behind the Dragons,” said the former Ireland hooker, who was appointed as head coach in the summer.

“We need to be a resource for the rugby clubs and schools in our region and not just look to take from them.

“We are very fortunate to have lots of talented local lads that have committed themselves to the Dragons for the next season and beyond.

“To be able give something back as a way of showing our support for our local teams and schools that played a huge role in their development seemed like a really good idea.

“Leon is just the first of many homegrown players who will show their appreciation to the team or club that helped them along the way and I know that the school are going to put the money to good use after visiting.”