FIVE Dragons have been named in the Wales squad for Saturday’s autumn opener against Scotland – their highest tally since the autumn of 2005.
Lock Cory Hill and number eight Ross Moriarty start at Principality Stadium while hooker Elliot Dee, tighthead Leon Brown and flanker Aaron Wainwright are among the replacements.
If the quintet all get on the field then they will match the figure from 2005 when full-back Kevin Morgan, fly-half Ceri Sweeney, scrum-half Gareth Cooper, Charteris and number eight Michael Owen played in the 41-3 thumping at the hands of New Zealand and nervy 11-10 win against Fiji.
Hill, Dee, Wainwright and full-back Hallam Amos featured in the first Test against Argentina in June along with Moriarty but at that time the back row forward was Dragons-bound after signing from Gloucester.
Wales have selected two uncapped players in their 23-man squad with Luke Morgan starting on the wing and fly-half Jarrod Evans among the replacements.
Dillon Lewis makes his first start in Cardiff and is backed up by Dragons tighthead Brown, who returns to the Test stage after winning three caps last autumn.
Dan Lydiate gets the nod at blindside flanker while Dragons captain Hill features in his 13th consecutive Test.
Centre Tyler Morgan is the sole Rodney Parade player to miss out on selection with Jonathan Davies returning to partner Hadleigh Parkes and wing George North covering midfield.
WALES SQUAD TO PLAY SCOTLAND
15. Leigh Halfpenny (78 Caps)
14. George North (76 Caps)
13. Jonathan Davies (65 Caps)
12. Hadleigh Parkes (8 Caps)
11. Luke Morgan (*UNCAPPED)
10. Gareth Anscombe (18 Caps)
9. Gareth Davies (33 Davies)
1. Nicky Smith (21 Caps)
2. Ken Owens (57 Caps)
3. Dillon Lewis (5 Caps)
4. Cory Hill (18 Caps)
5. Alun Wyn Jones (117 Caps) (CAPT)
6. Dan Lydiate (62 Caps)
7. Justin Tipuric (57 Caps)
8. Ross Moriarty (23 Caps)
REPLACEMENTS:
16. Elliot Dee (10 Caps)
17. Rob Evans (27 Caps)
18. Leon Brown (3 Caps)
19. Adam Beard (4 Caps)
20. Aaron Wainwright (1 Cap)
21. Tomos Williams (2 Caps)
22. Jarrod Evans (UNCAPPED)
23. Steff Evans (10 Caps)
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DRAGONS WITH WALES
There are a number of occasions when four Dragons have taken to the field with Wales, most notably in the World Cup third-place play-off against Australia in 2011 when number eight Taulupe Faletau, blindside Dan Lydiate and lock Luke Charteris started and hooker Lloyd Burns was a replacement.
Five players were involved twice in the autumn of 2005 – full-back Kevin Morgan, fly-half Ceri Sweeney, scrum-half Gareth Cooper, Charteris and number eight Michael Owen played in the 41-3 thumping at the hands of New Zealand and nervy 11-10 win against Fiji.
A quintet also played against Romania in Wrexham in 2003 when wing Nathan Brew, centre Andy Marinos and lock Ian Gough were in the XV with hooker Paul Young and prop Chris Anthony coming off the bench at the Racecourse.
However, the record is six with the last occasion in the 2005 win against Italy in Rome on the way to a Grand Slam when wing Hal Luscombe and Owen started with Morgan, Sweeney, Cooper and Gough among the replacements.
That tally matched the November, 2004 encounter with Japan in Cardiff when Luscombe, Sweeney, Cooper, Owen and Morgan were joined in the 23 by hooker Steve Jones.
Two weeks before that Luscombe, Charteris, Owen, Sweeney, Cooper and Jones played in the 66-7 success against Romania.
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