Fly half Lloyd Evans will make a first appearance for Dragons RFC as the Men of Gwent continue pre-season with a friendly against Bristol Bears at Clifton RFC on Friday evening (kick-off 7.30pm).
Head Coach Dai Flanagan selects a total of 32 players for the fixture, featuring a blend of exciting young development talent and returning seniors.
Lock George Nott again captains the team while prop Rodrigo Martinez and hooker James Benjamin make their first appearance of pre-season up front and Harri Keddie is named in a new-look back row.
Dragons Academy youngster Huw Anderson features at full back while Australian centre Harry Wilson is paired with Joe Westwood in midfield.
The Rosser brothers – Ewan and Jared – will provide the firepower out wide. Scrum half Dane Blacker is paired at half back with former Gloucester ace Evans.
Youngsters Ryan Woodman, Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths, Owain James, Nick Thomas, Evan Minto and Morgan Lloyd are named among the replacements.
Prop Joe Rees, from Hartpury University, and wing Iwan Pyrs-Jones and lock Joe Peard, from Newport RFC, make guest appearances. Our thanks to both clubs for supporting us with this fixture.
Flanagan said: “The Bristol game allows us the opportunity to integrate more senior players into the squad, but also give valuable minutes and development time to our Academy youngsters.
“We acknowledge we are at a different stage in pre-season to Bristol, we expect them to play a very strong side, but what is important to us is that we build depth in our squad, get more game time into players, and assess all options available to us.
We expect further senior players to return for the Bath fixture as we continue to shape our pre-season to give us the best opportunity to make a strong start to our league campaign.”
Dragons RFC: Huw Anderson, Ewan Rosser, Harry Wilson, Joe Westwood, Jared Rosser, Lloyd Evans, Dane Blacker; Rodrigo Martinez, James Benjamin, Luke Yendle, Joe Davies, George Nott (c), George Young, Harri Keddie. Owen Conquer
Replacements: Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths, Oli Burrows, Brodie Coghlan, Joe Rees, Owain James, Nick Thomas, Joe Peard, Evan Minto, Sam Scarfe, Ryan Woodman, Rhodri Williams, Morgan Lloyd, Will Reed, Steff Hughes, Aneurin Owen, Jordan Williams, Iwan Pyrs-Jones
The Bristol game allows us the opportunity to integrate more senior players into the squad, but also give valuable minutes and development time to our Academy youngsters...
