The 27-year-old back-three player has admitted that his decision to switch from the English Premiership to the Guinness PRO14 is all aimed at giving him the best chance possible of breaking into Wayne Pivac’s Welsh side.
With three caps to his name already, Holmes took the decision to leave Welford Road, where he still had a year to run on his contract, to break new ground in Wales to try to keep himself in the international spotlight.
“I’m very ambitious – I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t. It was a hard, but simple decision to join the Dragons and I felt I would have regretted it if I hadn’t taken it, explained Holmes.
“When I was at Leicester I might get one day to train and then I’d have to head back. The rest of the boys would get the whole week to train together. That wasn’t great for me – if you aren’t in the coaches eye line for the same amount of time as everything else it only makes it harder.
“I hope it will give me a better chance to get into the Welsh squad, although the first priority is getting a regular spot in the Dragons team under Dean Ryan. That’s my first priority and there are no guarantees.
“If I can put in performances that mean I get a shot at the Wales squad then great, but I won’t get that if I don’t play well at the Dragons. Wayne Pivac and his team have been very supportive and I’ve got a lot to thank them for.
“If I do get into the squad it will mean I won’t have to travel back and for and I will be more in the spotlight playing in the PRO14.”
Dragons director of rugby Dean Ryan has admitted he is hopeful of adding Saracens centre Nick Tompkins to his squad in a season long loan deal from the reigning European champions, while former Australian international Joe Tomane is also on the his radar as he moves on from PRO14 champions Leinster.
“Jonah’s ability to play in a number of positions will be hugely beneficial to us. Hopefully, he can push on for more international honours and being in a managed programme should help him to do that,” said Ryan.
“We’ve made no secret of our desire to see more people playing international rugby from the Dragons. That is part of the carrot for us to get some momentum as we look to change the recent pathway on which the Dragons has been on.
“I’ve followed Jonah for a while. We looked at him when I was at Worcester and he was at Wasps. When we were tracking him he was having a lot of success with Leeds on loan, but Wasps wouldn’t be flexible enough to get a deal done.
“Then he moved on to Leicester and increased his successes and has become an international player. We approached Leicester via his agent and the deal was a Dragons deal which has subsequently become a National 38.
“It is our decision and our risk for Jonah to become a Dragons player. We’ve been quite active in the Exile market and we know that Wayne is keen to get as many Welsh players back into Wales so he can exert as much influence on them as possible.”
Holmes couldn’t face stiffer competition for a place in Pivac’s starting XV given the quality of the players in the back three. At full back he has to compete with Liam Williams and Leigh Halfpenny, with Gareth Anscombe, Johnny McNicholl and Rhys Patchell other viable options, while Williams and McNicholl are equally at home on the wing along with George North, Josh Adams, Owen Lane and rising star Louis Rees-Zammit.
“The competition is only going to drive us all on. I’m looking forward to being in close contact with them all and I hope I can push them a bit harder,” said Holmes.
