Dragons chairman David Wright has defended the club's decision to join Cardiff in signing the new Professional Rugby Agreement and insists it will allow them to go from strength-to-strength. Both the Ospreys and the Scarlets refused to sign the new PRA partly because they had concerns the Welsh Rugby Union could turn Cardiff into a super club to the detriment of the other three. As a result of the Ospreys and Scarlets not signing, the WRU have called in the two-year notice period on the old PRA. The WRU have also announced there will no longer be any equal funding between all four sides, while they are also seriously considering cutting one of the professional clubs. There are those who have criticised the Dragons for not standing with the west Wales clubs by signing the new PRA, but Wright is adamant the correct decision has been made. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby. “Let me make myself extremely clear," Wright said via the South Wales Argus. “Me, David Buttress and Hoyoung Huh, with the support of Rhys [Blumberg, chief executive] were under no pressure to sign this document from the WRU as some are suggesting. Zero. “There was no legacy rationale [from being Union-owned until 2023] or promises as some claim, we made this decision by ourselves, without any threats, based on what we saw. “We signed together and with legal assurances that we believe are sound. We produced, articulated and agreed a legal side letter that we believe, with our lawyers, gives us enough legality should we want to fight. “That allowed us to sign and the other clubs that haven’t signed were open to see everything that we did; we showed them and asked them whether they would join us and they refused. “I am not going to comment on the Scarlets and Ospreys because it’s their business completely. Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here. “The three of us have run billion-pound businesses and dealt with legal people for many years; we all believe the document we have signed gives us enough leverage and that there were sound business reasons to sign it. “In doing so, it has given us five years of legal agreement with the PRA and three years of fixed funding that is significantly more than where we have been in recent years, and that allows us to do a lot of the work with building the squad for the future.” As of next season there will be a tiered funding model in Welsh rugby, with both Cardiff and the Dragons on significantly more money than the Ospreys and Scarlets, although the long-term future is up in the air. After signing the new PRA the Dragons will have fixed funding for three seasons with the playing budget going up to £5.4m next season, £6.2m the season after followed by £7.2m the next year. Join WalesOnline Rugby's WhatsApp Channel here to get the breaking news sent straight to your phone for free On top of this the WRU are looking to refinance the Covid loans by transferring it onto their own balance sheet which further strengthens the Dragons. The Dragons are in the best position off the field with three ambitious new owners and the fact they are the only Welsh club to own their own ground. “It’s incredibly true to say that this was in the Dragons’ best interests, why is that important to me? We have responsibility to bring certainty and sustainability to this club," Wright added. “We have a responsibilities to all of our employees and their families, and responsibility to our stakeholders and supporters to have a professional club in Newport and Gwent. “I do believe the signing of the PRA gives us security, certainty and sustainability over the new few years that will give us a positive future.”