Centre Steff Hughes will captain Dragons RFC when they face Emirates Lions in the BKT United Rugby Championship in Johannesburg on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 3.05pm UK time).
Hughes leads the team at Emirates Airline Park and is one of seven changes made by Head Coach Dai Flanagan.
Full back Jordan Williams returns in the back line while wing Ashton Hewitt and scrum half Rhodri Williams are also handed starting spots.
Back row Harrison Keddie is back in the seven jersey while props Rhodri Jones and Lloyd Fairbrother are recalled up front.
Wales Under-20 captain Ryan Woodman is set for his first action of the tour after being named among the replacements.
Ahead of the Round 7 fixture, Flanagan has urged his team to learn the lessons of defeat in Durban last weekend and make a strong start at altitude.
“The first 20 minutes we need to go and attack. We can't sit back on our heels and as then we know the game is going to level off,” he said.
“We need to see a consistency in our style too. I wouldn't expect to see the number of turnovers I saw last week.
“The players care a lot, but last weekend they tried to solve issues themselves. You don't win fights against 15 people on your own. You do it as 15 people.
“We found that with one or two players trying to do a bit too much. We’ve got to be more united and collective, have a bit more consistency about what we want to do.
“We played Lions twice last year and we know all about the altitude, so we don’t need to speak about it. It hurts, but it hurts for both teams.
“What they'll do is try and keep the ball on the field early and try to attack all out for the first 20 minutes.
“They won't take pot-shots at goal, they will go to the corner to get that scoreboard to tick over to 20 points, like they did against Zebre. Our challenge is to turn that on its head.”
Dragons RFC: Jordan Williams, Rio Dyer, Sio Tomkinson, Steff Hughes (c), Ashton Hewitt, Will Reed, Rhodri Williams; Rhodri Jones, Bradley Roberts, Lloyd Fairbrother, Matthew Screech, George Nott, Sean Lonsdale, Harri Keddie, Aaron Wainwright
Replacements: James Benjamin, Aki Seiuli, Luke Yendle, Joe Davies, Ryan Woodman, Dane Blacker, Aneurin Owen, Ewan Rosser
Unavailable (16): Taine Basham (suspension), Gonzalo Bertranou (knock), Leon Brown (calf), Ben Carter (hamstring), Chris Coleman (quad), Elliot Dee (ribs), Jack Dixon (knock), Cai Evans (knock), Ollie Griffiths (pec), Dan Lydiate (ribs), Rodrigo Martinez (calf), Angus O’Brien (arm), Josh Reynolds (pec), Jared Rosser (knock), David Richards (back), Joe Westwood (leg)
We played Lions twice last year and we know all about the altitude, so we don’t need to speak about it. It hurts, but it hurts for both teams...
