FLANKER Dan Lydiate will become Newport Gwent Dragons’ fifth captain of the season in Friday night’s derby clash with the Ospreys, writes Chris Kirwan.

The 24-year-old Wales blindside will lead out the side at Rodney Parade in the absence of fellow back row forward Gavin Thomas, who is sidelined by a knee injury.

The Dragons named Luke Charteris as skipper at the start of the season but the Wales lock has not yet played for his region because of a wrist injury.

Hooker Tom Willis (currently out with a thumb injury) led the side while Charteris was at the World Cup and the role has since been carried out by Ashley Smith, Joe Bedford and Thomas.

Centre Smith is back from a hamstring layoff for the Ospreys clash but head coach Darren Edwards has opted to give Lydiate his first shot at leading the region.

He said: "It’s a similar situation to Luke in that Dan has a good perspective on the game because of his international experience.

"You go through massive cycles of emotion in rugby in terms of results, training, injuries and when Dan speaks the boys listen and he gets a reaction.

"He’s not a huge speaker but what he says makes sense and he what he achieves as captain will be driven by his actions – nobody can question Dan as a player or a person."

The absence of Thomas has led to Lydiate leading the side and will also lead to a return to the starting line-up for Lewis Evans at openside flanker.

"It’s a good chance for Lewis and his last game (the win against Perpignan) got him into the Wales squad," said Edwards.

"Lewis plays across the back row and he has the ball-playing ability that we like our opensides to have."

Fly-half Jason Tovey has overcome the knee problem that forced him from the field in last week’s loss to the Scarlets but centre/wing Adam Hughes misses out with the ankle injury that led to his second-half withdrawal.

Dragons squad: M Thomas, T Chavhanga, W Harries, A Brew, T Riley, A Tuilagi, A Smith, L Robling, M Jones, J Tovey, W Evans, J Bedford, N Williams, P Price, L Burns, S Jones, R Buckley, D Way, N Buck, A Jones, R Sidoli, J Groves, L Evans, D Lydiate (captain), T Brown, T Faletau, D Waters.