HOT prospect Ollie Griffiths gets a chance to stake his claim for the 7 jersey when he makes his first start for Newport Gwent Dragons against Ulster tomorrow.

The 20-year-old from Newbridge is an exciting talent and caught the eye as the standout player in last season's Wales Under-20s side and when becoming the youngest captain in Newport's rich history.

He has had to be patient in Dragons colours because of the superb form of breakdown expert Nic Cudd but his 11th regional appearance will be his first start.

Griffiths is a game-breaker with ball in hand and forms a potentially explosive back row partnership with Wales ace Taulupe Faletau and Ed Jackson, who once again wears 6 on his back.

The Dragons make four other changes to the XV that disappointed in the 25-15 defeat to the Scarlets in Llanelli last weekend with scrum-half Sarel Pretorius, full-back Carl Meyer, tighthead Shaun Knight and lock Cory Hill getting the nod.

After four away defeats and two uninspiring home victories against Zebre and Treviso, director of rugby Lyn Jones wants his charges to step things up before the Guinness Pro12 takes a fortnight break for European action.

He said: "This weekend is about our performance, how we gel as a side and how accurate we are because we have got lots of good players but haven't been firing on all cylinders.

"Everybody is working 100 miles an hour to make sure this region is a successful one.

"We've had four games on the road and we haven't played as well as we'd have liked. We are also very much aware of all the good stuff we are doing that isn't getting rewarded."

The Dragons have a good home record against the Ulstermen under Jones with a 15-8 victory in his first game in charge at Rodney Parade and a thrilling 26-22 success last term.

The visitors include centre Darren Cave, fly-half Paddy Jackson and flanker Chris Henry after their World Cup commitments while Ireland great Rory Best and Springboks star Ruan Pienaar are on the bench.

Jared Payne and Iain Henderson are given another weekend off before their European Champions Cup opener at Oyonnax but fifth-placed Ulster know the importance of keeping in touch with those in the play-off berths.

"Dragons have had a similar run of form to us," said Henry. "Their defence is particularly strong, they make teams work really hard, put them under pressure and frustrate players.

"They tackle and bounce out of rucks and are a solid line constantly. We will have to come up with a few ideas to get through their line of defence but away from home and in a place like Rodney Parade you are talking about set piece, maul, defence and not giving away penalties.

"I think if we can get that right and our game picks up, we can give any team a rattle away from home."

Dragons: C Meyer, A Hewitt, A Hughes, A Warren, N Scott, D Jones, S Pretorius, B Stankovich, E Dee, S Knight, C Hill, R Landman (captain), E Jackson, O Griffiths, T Faletau. Replacements: R Buckley, P Price, B Harris, M Screech, L Evans, C Davies, J Tovey, R Wardle.

Ulster: P Nelson, R Scholes, D Cave, S McCloskey, S Arnold, P Jackson, P Marshall, K McCall, R Herring (captain), W Herbst, D Tuohy, F van der Merwe, R Diack, C Henry, C Mulholland. Replacements: R Best, R Lutton, B Ross, L Stevenson, S Reidy, R Pienaar, I Humphreys, C Gilroy.

Referee: Dudley Phillips (Ireland)