FORMER Dragons boss Darren Edwards intends to help young talent prosper through sevens after being confirmed as Wales' new head coach, writes Chris Kirwan.

The Argus revealed in mid-October that the 45-year-old was in line to be the successor to Richie Pugh, who left the role to become contact skills coach at the Ospreys.

Edwards, a former scrum-half who was part of Newport RFC's cup-winning side of 2001, left his job as Bath's backs coach at the end of last season.

He moved to the Rec in 2014 after five years at Rodney Parade, initially joining as Paul Turner's attack coach, before going on to be head coach and then finishing as Lyn Jones' assistant.

Edwards was Wales Under-20s boss in 2010/11 and will now return to international rugby, with his first tournament the Dubai opener of the World Rugby Sevens Series at the start of December.

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"I'm delighted to be coming home to embark on this exciting challenge with Wales Sevens," said Edwards, who is from Maesteg.

"The last few years at Bath have been excellent for my development – working alongside world-class players and coaches – and that's something I want to use to build on the positives of the sevens programme.

"We have a lot of talented young Welshmen coming through and I want to capitalise on their abilities and ambitions by letting rugby sevens provide them with a platform to succeed."

Player development has always been a strength of the affable and encouraging Edwards and Welsh Rugby Union performance director Ryan Jones hopes his return can help a programme that has led to Sam Cross and Luke Morgan becoming full internationals in recent seasons.

"Bringing someone with all the coaching experience Darren has back to Wales is a big positive for rugby in this country," said the former Lions forward.

"It's a move that really boosts the sevens programme and, in turn, can only help the development of young players coming through the regional and age grade pathways as well."