CORY Hill will captain Newport Gwent Dragons on his return to action against Harlequins in the LV= Cup tomorrow while new South African prop Brok Harris makes his debut, writes Chris Kirwan.

The 22-year-old lock Hill has been sidelined since suffering an ankle injury at a lineout against Treviso in September.

He returns in the second row along while Andrew Coombs is back from a knee injury at blindside flanker in a side that mixes youth with experience.

Centre Ross Wardle will enjoy his first game time since rupturing knee ligaments in April after being handed the number 12 jersey.

Jonathan Evans and Dorian Jones make up a youthful half-back partnership but there are plenty of seasoned campaigners up front with 29-year-old tighthead Harris, who won the Currie Cup with Western Province a fortnight ago, getting the nod along with former Wales and Lions number eight Andy Powell.

The Dragons squad features four teenagers with 19-year-old Ashton Hewitt selected on the right wing while 18-year-old lock Joe Davies, 19-year-old flanker Ollie Griffiths and 18-year-old centre Barney Nightingale are on the bench.

“We have picked a strong side that brings some freshness but also is competitive,” said head coach Kingsley Jones.

“We’ve got confidence in the young lads to produce a good performance but we also want to come away with a good result.

“The character and attitude in Ulster was a big positive; by no means are we happy with the (23-6) defeat but they will have taken a lot from that experience.

“And there was lots of good in our game, especially at the set piece. We took their lineout apart, stopped their drive and had parity at the scrums, so that’s a step in the right direction.

“Now we go up to Harlequins and it will be interesting to see how these young guys perform because if we can keep the likes of (20-year-old flanker) James Benjamin on the right path then it will be fantastic for the region.”

Quins, who were edged out by Saracens in their LV= Cup opener last Sunday, hand a debut to their new Taunton-born South African recruit fly-half Tim Swiel.

Harlequins: R Chisholm, C Walker, M Hopper, J Turner-Hall, O Lindsay-Hague, T Swiel, K Dickson (captain), M Lambert, R Buchanan, K Sinckler, C Matthews, S Twomey, J Trayfoot, J Clifford, J Chisholm. Replacements: D Ward, D Marfo, W Collier, G Merrick, H Cheeseman, S Stuart, L Grimoldby, T Casson.

Dragons: G R Jones, A Hewitt, M Pewtner, R Wardle, A Brew, D Jones, J Evans, O Evans, E Dee, B Harris, J Thomas, C Hill (captain), A Coombs, J Benjamin, A Powell. Replacements: H Gustafson, P Price, D Young, J Davies, O Griffiths, L Jones, B Nightingale, R Williams.