Following strong performances against Connacht, Toby Faletau and Andrew Coombs have been retained their places for Saturday’s derby clash against the Ospreys.
“We are well aware of the need to keep building for the future and this season we have tried to blood a few of our youngsters,” Dragons head coach Paul Turner.
“Andrew’s selection came off the back of some outstanding performances for Newport both in terms of his playing and his leadership and Toby has shown maturity in the way he has played for us this season. Their involvement in tonight’s game is testament to the confidence we have in their abilities.
“We were obviously all disappointed with the result in Connacht last week but there were clear weaknesses in our performance which cost us the game.
“Despite that, I can’t fault the effort the players put in, although at this level, putting in 100% effort is not enough if you can’t keep the errors out of the game. We’ll be focussed on ball retention and being clinical – two of the main failings with our performance last week.
“The Ospreys are one of Europe’s on-form teams at the moment. Although they may have players out, the same was said of Munster before they came here and even with several internationals unavailable they were still able to boast a very strong side and the Ospreys will be the same. We need to be at our best to beat them.”
Dragons:
Backs: Martyn Thomas, Richard Fussell, Aled Brew, Will Harries, Matthew Watkins, Ashley Smith, Tom Riley, James Arlidge, Jason Tovey, James Leadbeater Wayne Evans.
Forwards: Hugh Gustafson, Ben Castle, Pat Palmer, Tom Willis (Capt), Steve Jones, Rob Sidoli, Hoani Macdonald, Luke Charteris, Grant Webb, Danny Lydiate, Toby Faletau, Andrew Coombs, Gavin Thomas.
