Dragons

The Dragons have never lifted a major trophy in fifteen-a-side rugby, but the closest they came still gets talked about at Rodney Parade: third place in the Celtic League in 2003–04, the region's first season of existence. Semi-final runs followed in the European Challenge Cup, in 2006–07 and again in 2014–15 and 2015–16, and the sevens side took the Singha Premiership Sevens title twice, in 2015 and 2016.

The region was assembled in 2003 out of Newport RFC and Ebbw Vale RFC, part of the wholesale reorganisation of Welsh rugby into regional sides. A row over whether the team would be called Newport or Gwent Dragons ended in the compromise "Newport Gwent Dragons", and the company set up to run it, Gwent Rugby Ltd, went into administration that November without having played a game. Dragons Rugby Ltd took over from there.

Money stayed the story for years. By 2012 the region was carrying debt of close to £2.5 million, and in March 2017 the Welsh Rugby Union took full ownership of the club and of Rodney Parade to clear it. The rebrand to the simpler "Dragons RFC" followed that year. Welsh Rugby Union control lasted until July 2023, when a consortium led by David Buttress bought both the club and the ground, taking it back into private hands.

Aaron Wainwright came through the region's academy before his move to Leicester Tigers. Fixtures against Ospreys and Cardiff Blues carry the weight of Welsh derbies, with the Cardiff Blues game known locally as the M4 derby or the Christmas derby. What the Dragons have not managed is a trophy to put alongside those near-misses.