Cornish Pirates sign Dragons hooker James Benjamin on loan

The 27-year-old from Rogerstone has headed to the Mennaye Field with immediate effect ahead of the upcoming English Championship season to learn the ropes in the 2 jersey.

Benjamin spent last year on a conditioning programme to prepare for the move from the back row to the heart of the front row.

He worked closely with forwards coach Mefin Davies, the former Wales hooker, and got first taste of match action in pre-season.

Benjamin faced London Scottish and Aberavon with Ebbw Vale before coming off the bench in the Dragons' friendlies against Leicester and Wasps.

Now the Wales sevens international will continue his development in England's second tier, a competition where there is no hiding place in the tight five.

"After good exposure in pre-season, it is vital that we find opportunity for James to continue his learning and development in a quality environment," said Dragons director of rugby Dean Ryan.

"We are grateful to Gavin [Cattle, coach] and his team at Pirates for working with us in this instance."

Full-back Carwyn Penny, fly-half Arwel Robson and lock Ed Scragg swapped Newport for Penzance this summer.

Benjamin has joined them in Cornwall and will be in the mix for a debut against Richmond on Saturday.

MOVE: Dragons forward James Benjamin has joined Cornish Pirates

"The arrival of James at this present time works well for us. We have a good working relationship with the Dragons, and he has been identified as someone who has potential to fill the role well," said Pirates joint head coach Alan Paver.

"We are excited and looking forward to working with him and to see what he has got.

"I am sure he will do us proud and that we will be able to further aid his development. He will also, no doubt, be warmly welcomed by supporters."

The ball-playing forward has also been assigned to Ebbw for the upcoming Welsh Premiership campaign, although the Steelmen's captain Joe Franchi is their starting hooker.

Ryan said ahead of the Wasps friendly that he was keen to accelerate Benjamin's learning over the coming months by creating opportunities.

With the Dragons having Wales international Elliot Dee, former Lion Richard Hibbard, Ellis Shipp and on-loan Scarlet Taylor Davies as options, those will come in Cornwall in the coming months.

The hope is that it will help Benjamin, who tried out as a centre in 2018, learn the dark arts to go with his ability around the park.

"His route to playing at seven was blocked and we were at risk of losing a really good footballer," said Ryan last week.

"He is one of those incredible athletes that can turn their hand to most things, so we wondered whether he could change and there is always talk of the hooker being an additional back rower.

"His ability to play broken field rugby is unbelievable but is he going to be a frontline 12 for us? No, he's probably not big enough for URC and we have got a hell of a lot of competition in the back row.

"It was a really positive conversation with him about us wanting him competing for a first-team position, not being somebody who plugs a gap because they are a good footballer.

"To do that, he had to take a risk and we backed that risk by contracting him and supporting him."

Pirates hooker Tom Cowan-Dickie joined Leicester on a short-term contract at the start of the month.