OFISA Tonu'u says he did not come to Wales to play for Gwent Dragons, but for Newport.

He has been released by the Gwent management after he failed to report for pre-season training, the Dragons inititially naming Tonu'u and Bryan Shelbourne of Ebbw Vale as their two scrum halves, but last week signed Rhodri Jones from Swansea and Gareth Baber from Pontypridd.

"My contract was given to Gwent, but I never signed with them," said Tonu'u from New Zealand. "They haven't dumped me, I've got a contract with Tony Brown.

"But he has gone now. I could see Newport losing their grip, now they're not in control of it at all.

"It's now run by Ebbw Vale and I refuse to play for Ebbw Vale, a team that got relegated.

"Gwent Dragons wanted me to play for them, but they didn't know if they'd even have a team. All the people who brought me in like Tony and Ian McIntosh have gone, yet Gwent expect me to come from the other side of the world for a training session. They can give me a bad Press, though I've said nothing until now.

"I told them I was coming over here to see my brother who is ill. The last time I came back for a family reason my mother died before I could get here.

"I came to play for Newport, and I played for them with my heart on my sleeve and put my body on the line.

"I wanted Newport in the title with their identity, and I see that over 12,000 people signed a petition. I'm not going to totally disregard that. How can I ignore it?

"I'm going to support the Newport stand as well. All the people who brought me in have gone, yet they expect me to stay and play for the jersey. What jersey? What history?

"I am doing this for the right reasons. If we can't support 12,000 people it means nothing."

David Jenkins, Gwent Dragons chief executive, stressed: "Ofisa never chose to assign his contract over to Gwent. The only contact I had with him was in May when he was asked to sign for Gwent, but he wasn't sure he could do that because he had issues to sort out."