Newly capped Wales openside flanker Ollie Griffiths and South African scrum-half Sarel Pretorius return from injury to start for the Dragons against Connacht on Friday night.

Dragons head coach Bernard Jackman has made three changes to his XV with former Wales Under-20 star Jack Dixon starting in midfield and Pretorius and Griffiths beginning the game from the off.

Both the front row and second row are unchanged, but the back-row sees Harrison Keddie swap places with James Benjamin as he moves to flanker and Benjamin switches to No. 8.

The replacements bench sees five changes made, with the inclusion of Gerard Ellis and Robson Blake who are both set to make their first Guinness PRO14 appearances.

Forwards coach Ceri Jones is excited at the prospect of the highly rated Griffiths making his first start of the season.

“Ollie was outstanding last year for us so to have him back in the mix is great,” said Jones.

“We just want him to put consistent performances in for us, then it’s down to the Welsh selectors to have a look at him.

“If you look at Ollie as an athlete I think there are not many better than him in Wales.

“It would be a huge challenge for him taking that step up to international rugby, but I feel he is ready for it. I like Ollie a lot as a player and a person.”

Connacht head coach Kieran Keane has made seven changes to the Connacht side that secured a bonus-point win against the Southern Kings last weekend.

Rory Scholes, Caolin Blade, Denis Coulson, Conor Carey, Quinn Roux and Jake Heenan all come into the side for their first starts of the season as Eoghan Masterson makes his second appearance of the campaign.

Connacht assistant coach Nigel Carolan is not underestimating the challenge posed by Jackman’s Dragons.

“Bernard is trying to rebuild the Dragons and create a strong identity, much like he did in Grenoble,” said Carolan.

“They will be a tight-knit group and very difficult to play against. They have some real firepower with Ashton Hewitt, Zane Kirchner, and the boot of Gavin Henson.

“It is going to be a very difficult game for us and we have to make sure we build on last week and are more effective than we were against the Kings.”

 

Dragons: Zane Kirchner; Ashton Hewitt, Tyler Morgan, Jack Dixon, Hallam Amos; Gavin Henson, Sarel Pretorius; Brok Harris, Elliot Dee, Leon Brown, Rynard Landman, Cory Hill (capt), Harrison Keddie, Ollie Griffiths, James Benjamin.

Replacements: Gerard Ellis, Thomas Davies, Lloyd Fairbrother, Matthew Screech, Robson Blake, Owain Leonard, Dorian Jones, Jared Rosser.

Connacht: Tiernan O’Halloran; Darragh Leader, Tom Farrell, Bundee Aki, Rory Scholes; Jack Carty, Caolin Blade; Denis Coulson, Tom McCartney, Conor Carey, Quinn Roux, James Cannon, Eoghan Masterson, Jake Heenan, John Muldoon.

Replacements: Dave Heffernan, Peter McCabe, Dominic Robertson-McCoy, Gavin Thornbury, Jarrad Butler, Kieran Marmion, Steve Crosbie, Eoin Griffin.