Newport Gwent Dragons have named a 24 man squad for their trip to Italy to face Aironi on Sunday (26 February, 3.30pm GMT).
Openside flanker Darren Waters is rested following a knock despite performing well in his last couple of starts. Development player Rhys Jenkins comes into the squad in his place. Second row Adam Jones has had surgery on his injured foot and will be out for the rest of the season, Royce Cadman replaces him in this week’s squad.
The rest of the squad remains the same as it was for the Edinburgh game last week as the Dragons look to keep consistency and build on last week’s win.
STATS
• The Dragons have won all 3 previous fixtures against Aironi.
• The last time the sides met, at Rodney Parade earlier in the season, the Dragons came away victors 23-14.
• The Dragons move up one place in the RaboDirect table following their win over Edinburgh on Saturday and are now within 2 points of 9th place.
• Jason Tovey has scored 130 RaboDirect points this season, the third best in the league this season. He has a 79% success rate in the tournament from the tee.
Newport Gwent Dragons Squad
Martyn Thomas, Will Harries, Aled Brew, Adam Hughes, Andy Tuilagi, Ashley Smith, Lewis Robling, Jason Tovey, Joe Bedford, Wayne Evans, Gavin Thomas, Rhys Jenkins, Lewis Evans, Hugo Ellis, Tom Brown, Jevon Groves, Rob Sidoli, Royce Cadman, Phil Price, Nathan Williams, Nathan Buck, Dan Way, Steve Jones, Sam Parry.
Players not considered through injury:
Luke Charteris (wrist)
Lloyd Burns (neck)
Adam Jones (foot)
Andrew Coombs (shoulder)
Scott Morgan (shoulder)
Mike Poole (knee)
Tonderai Chavhanga (rib)
Pat Leach (hand)
