PAUL Turner’s most successful season as coach of the Dragons came in his second year when they reached the semi-final of the European Challenge Cup competition.

They won in France for the first time when they beat Bayonne and they beat more French opposition when they disposed of Brive at home, having earlier defeated Bristol. They met a third French outfit, the formidable Clermont Auvergne, away in the semi-final and performed creditably there as well before going down 46-29.

Another highlight came this season when they beat the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium for the first time and last year they enjoyed a four-match spell when they beat the Ospreys and Munster at home, the Saracens away and drew against Ulster in Belfast.

But on the debit side the Dragons suffered an ignominious home defeat by Italians Parma in the Heineken Cup play-off in 2006. And this season they lost all six of their Heineken Cup pool games for the first time. The Dragons’ record under Turner reads: won 65, drawn 3, lost 100.

He was named coach of the year last season after the way he guided the Dragons into the Heineken Cup ahead of the Scarlets, but less than a year later he has gone.