Blumberg has also revealed more about the circumstances surrounding Flanagan’s sudden departure, which was said to have been a mutual decision.

Blumberg said Flanagan “wanted a decision on his future” and had “applied a bit of pressure around what would happen for him”.

“That almost made it a decision that had to be made quickly rather than wait for a bit longer and review things,” Blumberg added.

“The decision was also based on the fact that we didn’t win enough games in the first block.

“There was definitely an improvement in performances with certain things going in the right direction, but the board wasn’t content with the amount of wins.”

Dragons return to United Rugby Championship (URC) action on 26 December when they host Cardiff at 17:15 GMT.