Lydiate set to join Ospreys

Editor

Wales flanker Dan Lydiate is set to join Ospreys next week on a dual contract with the WRU according to reports in the Welsh press.

Lydiate left Parisian club Racing Metro by mutual consent in October and is now poised to become only the second Welshman to sign a national dual contract, following in the footsteps of fellow loose forward Sam Warburton.

Under the terms of the new National Dual Contract (NDC) system, any player returning to Wales from abroad would first be offer to the Welsh region he last played for.

Both the region and player have the right to turn down offers and Lydiate’s former team, Newport Gwent Dragons, gave their blessing for him to join Ospreys, who are in the European Rugby Champions Cup.

“He wants a change, we talked it through and it was all done amicably,” Dragons chairman Martyn Hazell told Wales online.

“We are deeply disappointed he won’t be rejoining us but we do understand his situation,”

“His wife is from Swansea and they’ve got a house in Swansea, so I suppose that makes it easier to train and everything. I don’t think he’s signed for the Ospreys yet, but I think he’s going to. We had a meeting and tried to convince him with his agent, but it was to no avail. We parted on amicable terms.”