AFTER getting used to seeing his name in the matchday 23 since heading east from Llanelli, Adam Warren is desperate to get his season up and running for the Dragons at Munster, writes Chris Kirwan.

The centre has been a hit at Rodney Parade after joining from the Scarlets in 2015, playing in 57 of 62 games in his first two campaigns.

However, this season he has made just two appearances after suffering knee and hamstring niggles on his comeback from a toe operation that ended his 2016/17 early.

The 26-year-old will wear 13 on his back in the Guinness PRO14 encounter at Musgrave Park tonight (kick-off 7.35pm) and is determined to grasp his opportunity.

“At the moment there is such tough competition. You have that one game to put your hand up,” said Warren.

“For me and a few others it’s probably not the start of the season that we wanted but now it’s a cup final every week to try and put our names on the teamsheet.

“Over the first two seasons if I wasn’t playing centre I was playing wing and I had a hell of a lot of game time.

“I love that and want it again, but it’s good to have competition and I know that if I am playing every week it’s because I am playing really well.”

Flanker James Benjamin captains the Dragons for the first time in the absence of lock Cory Hill, who is in the Wales squad for the autumn internationals along with tighthead Leon Brown, hooker Elliot Dee and full-back Hallam Amos.

Head coach Bernard Jackman makes 10 changes to his XV from last week’s loss to the Ospreys in Swansea, four because of the international commitments and three because of injury.

In come full-back Will Talbot-Davies, Warren, fly-half Angus O’Brien, scrum-half Charlie Davies, props Thomas Davies and Lloyd Fairbrother, hooker Gerard Ellis, lock Rynard Landman, blindside Aaron Wainwright and debutant number eight James Sheekey.

Flanker Ben Roach, a Wales 7s international, is poised for his Dragons bow from the bench while lock Scott Andrews and fly-half Arwel Robson are also among the replacements and set for their first regional outings of the season after summer operations.

Simon Zebo, left out of the Ireland squad ahead of his summer move to France, starts at full-back in a Munster side captained by lock Billy Holland.

South African flanker Chris Cloete makes his debut for the province while wing Darren Sweetnam and centre Chris Farrell start with fly-half Ian Keatley on the bench after the trio were released from the Irish camp.

“We know it’s going to be very physical and they play a big power game,” said Warren.

“Munster play directly off 9 a lot and have a good kicking game, so it’s important that we mark our field well and take our chances when they come.

“We know that we’ve got to get stuck in and it’s a good chance to put your name out there for putting a lot of tackles in and some big shots.”

Munster: S Zebo, D Sweetnam, C Farrell, R Scannell, A Wootton, JJ Hanrahan, D Williams, L O’Connor, R Marshall, S Archer, J Kleyn, B Holland (captain), J O’Donoghue, C Cloete, R Copeland. Reps: K O’Byrne, J Cronin, B Scott, D O’Shea, M Flanagan, J Hart, I Keatley, S Arnold.

Dragons: W Talbot-Davies, A Hewitt, A Warren, J Dixon, J Rosser, A O’Brien, C Davies, T Davies, G Ellis, L Fairbrother, J Davies, R Landman, A Wainwright, J Benjamin (captain), J Sheekey. Replacements: L Belcher, L Garrett, B Harris, S Andrews, B Roach, S Pretorius, A Robson, P Howard.

Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)