WALES stars Leon Brown and Elliot Dee will miss the Dragons’ final tune-up for the United Rugby Championship through injury but their Test teammates will return against Wasps.

Dean Ryan’s side were edged out 35-28 by Leicester at Welford Road last weekend and return to the Midlands to face English opposition on Sunday.

The clash in Coventry (kick-off 2pm) will see Wales internationals Ross Moriarty, Aaron Wainwright and Jonah Holmes take to the field along with summer signing Will Rowlands, who will slug it out against his former Wasps teammates.

Loosehead prop Aki Seiuli, who signed from Glasgow, is in line for a first outing after spending the summer with Samoa.

However, tighthead Brown (stinger) and hooker Dee (calf) - who both played in all three summer Tests - will not feature in the final game before the URC opener against the Ospreys at Rodney Parade on Sunday, September 26.

“More of our senior guys start to come back this weekend,” said director of rugby Dean Ryan. “Leon has ongoing problems from Wales camp and Elliot has a calf problem but Aaron, Will, Jonah, Ross will be involved at some stage.”

The Dragons trailed 21-0 at the break against Leicester but fought back to 28-28 only to be denied late on by Fijian winger Nemani Nadolo.

The Tigers had already had a warm-up against Jersey and start the Premiership a week before the URC gets under way.

South Wales Argus:

“We looked like we hadn’t played for a half,” said Ryan. “We are probably a week or two behind Leicester because of their earlier start and the first 40 minutes reflected that.

“When you make that sort of a start there is the danger that you chase something [too hard] and that become detrimental but we chased well.

“Jamie Roberts was excellent at galvanising our energy and we ended with some frustration that we didn’t go on to win.”

From taking on Tigers to going up against Wasps with Ryan keen to avoid the friendly against his former club becoming too loose.

“Wasps are one of the most dangerous sides around, put them in pre-season and that danger gets really significant,” he said.

“We've got to try and play a controlled game in a pre-season game, which is sometimes quite alien when using 26 players with lots of changes.

“Wasps are a lot more used to playing in an unstructured, chaotic environment than we are. We've got make sure we keep some element of order.”

The Dragons name their team at midday on Friday.