THE Dragons’ chances of ending their nightmare run on the road in the Guinness PRO14 in Italy next month have undoubtedly been hit by the loss of Hallam Amos, but that’s a price worth paying to give some excitement to a young player who has already given his region tremendous service.

The Wales speedster will not be lining up in the back field for the Rodney Parade side against Benetton at the Stadio Monigo or Zebre at the Stadio Tommaso Fattori.

He will instead be representing his country in the Commonwealth Games after being named in the 12-strong squad for the sevens.

It is an intriguing selection given that Amos, unlike so many promising Welsh prospects, never played in the World Rugby Sevens Series when learning his trade.

Such was the former Monmouth School pupil’s promise that he leapt ahead of such experiences and became a Dragons regular.

Sometimes you have to remind yourself that Amos is still just 23; he’s been around for so many seasons that you forget he can still be bracketed as a prospect.

Since making his debut against Wasps in Wycombe as a 16-year-old in 2011, he has racked up 95 appearances in the back three.

It’s fair to say that he has experienced more troughs than peaks since bursting onto the scene but the Dragons’ travails haven’t stopped him becoming a Wales regular.

Yet even on the Test scene Amos has experienced some lows because of injuries, missing the tour to South Africa in 2014, ruled out of the World Cup in 2015 after a blow in the win against England, dislocating his shoulder scoring against Australia in 2016.

In a fiercely competitive area of the pitch with Lions for rivals, the Dragon has never quite nailed down an international spot. When it looked like he had climbed the pecking order with a superb autumn campaign last year, he turned an ankle on Boxing Day and was overtaken for the Six Nations.

It will have been a frustrating few months for Amos, who remains on 15 caps after seeing Leigh Halfpenny, Steff Evans, Josh Adams, Gareth Anscombe, Liam Williams and George North get a crack in the back three in the Championship.

The wing/full-back will want to get that frustration out of his system… and why not allow that to happen in the red of Wales?

Amos transforms the Dragons team with his fast feet, balance, nice lines of running and power; his presence at 15 in Treviso and L'Aquila would dramatically increase the chance of ending a three-year drought away from home in the PRO14.

But it would be a slap in the face for the region to selfishly deny him what is an exciting chance to go for a medal in sevens, if even the Commonwealth Games is hardly an event of the scale of the Olympics.

Sure, they pay his wages (well, 40 per cent of them because of his dual contract) and have only got 18 games out him over the past two seasons, but losing his services for the Italian double-header is worthwhile.

I doubt that Amos’ game will be dramatically improved by an extremely short spell in sevens but the Games experience is a nice reward for a man who has stayed loyal to the Dragons when he could easily have moved to pastures new.

A win against Benetton or Zebre won’t change the fact that it’s been a nightmare campaign but would at least end the away day hoodoo before what we hope will be a dramatically-improved 2018/19.

The absence of Amos is a blow to such hopes but not a terminal one. I’d argue there is more to be gained by keeping the club’s best back happy by allowing him to have an experience of a lifetime with Team Wales than by having him on the Italian tour.

The Dragons’ golden boy deserves a crack at being on top of the podium.

South Wales Argus:

SUPER SAREL WILL BE SORELY MISSED

Sarel Pretorius will return to South Africa this summer after giving the Dragons plenty of bang for the Rand over three seasons, yet the scrum-half could have been an even bigger hit at Rodney Parade.

The 33-year-old has been an influential figure since being signed from the Cheetahs by then boss Lyn Jones in 2015, his impact backing up the due diligence that was done before handing him a three-year contract.

Whenever an overseas signing is made it is vital that they shine on the park and add extra value on the training paddock by aiding in the development of local talent.

Pretorius has put big ticks in both those boxes.

A livewire scrum-half with an eye for a gap, he tinkered with his game after swapping the hard track of Bloemfontein for the drizzle of Europe.

While he has never been the most convincing of kickers, Pretorius has developed into a more rounded half-back without losing his attacking threat and love for a snipe.

Not only that, the affable South African has been an example of a good professional to the Dragons' bright prospects, even when his number of starts have bizarrely declined.

Pretorius has made 70 appearances for the Dragons but, since starting in 22 of his 28 outings under Lyn Jones in 2015/16, has been thrown the 21 jersey with mystifyingly frequency.

In his second season under Kingsley Jones he played 25 times with just 11 of them starts (down from 79 per cent to 44). In the current campaign under Bernard Jackman he has started in 9 of his 17 appearances (53 per cent).

Some of the thinking will have been that the South African's buzzing style is more suited to adding energy and exploiting tired legs.

But I'd argue that the talent of Pretorius – the region's best scrum-half since Jonathan Evans – has been wasted on the bench. He has been a success story at the Dragons, but he could have been even more of a favourite had he been used properly.

Rhodri Williams is a fine signing for next season but he has pretty big boots to fill… and the Wales international will expect to have 9 on his back rather than 21.