Newport Gwent Dragons have made four changes, two positional to the team that defeated Bayonne last Friday for their trip across the Severn Bridge against Bristol (7.45pm)
The Dragons go into Friday night's European Challenge Cup match against Bristol buoyed by their 50-3 win over Top14 French side Bayonne.
19-year old academy member Ashley Smith comes in at inside centre with Ceri Sweeney replacing Mike Hercus who moves to the replacements bench at fly half.
Among the forwards Michael Owen moves from No.8 to blindside flanker replacing Andrew Hall while Nic Fitisemanu replaces Owen.
Ceri Sweeney and Gareth Cooper fresh from their call up into the Welsh international squad for the autumn series will be looking to stake a claim in the side with a controlling performance at half back on Friday. Speaking on his selection and the game against Bristol, scrum half Gareth Cooper said, "Naturally I am delighted to be included in Gareth Jenkins' squad for the autumn internationals, however, before I or the rest of The Dragons squad who have been called up begin to even think about the November internationals we have a very important game on Friday for The Dragons. We know that we have to build on last weekend's performance, tighten up certain areas of our game and improve if we are to come away with a win against the Guinness Premiership league leaders Bristol. We have heard that there are several buses of supporters making the trip over and many more by car and it is fantastic that our supporters are making the effort to travel to back the side. But that has been the case with our supporters this year, they have really backed us this season and hopefully we can give them something to smile about on Friday come the final whistle."
Jamie Ringer and Gareth Wyatt are both still ruled out with injuries but are expected to be fit for The Dragons Magners League match against Leinster next Saturday.
Looking ahead to the match against Bristol head coach Paul Turner said, "We have made a fantastic start to our Challenge Cup campaign but need to keep improving if we are to maintain our place in the competition. The match will provide us with a good opportunity to see where we are as a squad and provide us with a measure against the Guinness Premiership league leaders. With the weather forecast to be wet, we will need our forwards to be in dominating form as they were on Friday night. We are confident going into the game, training has gone well and we have performed well on the road this season."
Familiar faces to Rodney Parade fans will be former Newport coach Richard Hill who is overseeing Bristol's remarkable rise to the top of the Guinness Premiership while former Black and Amber fly half Jason Strange has scored a total of 326 points during his three seasons at Bristol.
Dragons Team
Kevin Morgan, Nathan Brew, Paul Emerick, Ashley Smith, Aled Brew, Ceri Sweeney, Gareth Cooper, Adam Black, Ben Daly, Lee Harrison, Ian Gough, Luke Charteris, Michael Owen, Colin Charvis, Nic Fitisemanu.
Replacements
Kieran Crawford, Jamie Corsi, Peter Sidoli, Andrew Hall, Alex Walker, Mike Hercus, Richard Fussell.
