The Dragons were formed in 2003 when Welsh rugby went regional to keep up with the demands of professional rugby and draw from a regional population of around 600 000.
* Get DStv to watch all the URC action *
They are based at Rodney Parade - a ground familiar to South Africans and the home of Newport Rugby club before the regional teams came into being.
Newport had a rich history and was the home of a number of Welsh legends during its time, and one of the first opponents for the Springboks on their 1906 tour of the United Kingdom.
In their glory years - between 1957 and 1970, they managed to beat the Springboks, Australia and New Zealand on tour games with the victory over the Springboks coming in 1969.
On their entry to regional rugby, a partnership was formed between Newport and Ebbw Vale, giving the team a new name - the Newport Gwent Dragons.
Their first coach was Mike Ruddock and their captain Andy Marinos, who is now CEO of Australian Rugby. They confounded initial expectations and remained unbeaten in the Celtic League in their first season and eliminated Stade Francais from the Heineken Cup, eventually finishing third as the season wore on.
South Africans Percy Montgomery and Gary Teichmann have played for them before and while they are a top Welsh side, turbulence in the boardroom hasn’t helped them a lot as they have struggled from one season to the next.
Eventually, in March 2017, a vote saw that the Welsh Rugby Union took over the ownership of the team and then coach Bernard Jackman struggled with the side under their shortened name, dropping the Newport Gwent for the simple “Dragons” title.
Jackman was replaced by Dean Ryan who is the coach currently.
Of their notable players, Michael Owen captained Wales while at the region, leading them to their first Grand Slam in 27 years in the 2005 Six Nations, while players such as Adam Jones, Adam Black, Rynard Landman and Brok Harris have played over 100 caps for the Dragons.
Welsh players such as Dan Lydiate, Cory Hill, Rhys Thomas, Rhys Oakley, Taulupe Faletau, Gareth Cooper, Ceri Sweeney, Hal Luscombe and Ross Moriarty have all been capped by Wales while playing for the side.
Former British Lion Jamie Roberts joined them at the beginning of the pandemic when travel was impossible to fulfil his contract with the DHL Stormers.