THE Dragons’ Wales trio of Cory Hill, Elliot Dee and Hallam Amos will all start against the Cheetahs at Rodney Parade tomorrow evening after their return from Six Nations duty.
Lock Hill captains the side after being one of only three Welsh players to start in all five Championship games while hooker Dee, who made four substitute appearances and one start, comes into the heart of the front row.
Amos, who did not feature in any of Warren Gatland’s matchday squads, lines up on the left wing in his final game before joining up with the Wales sevens squad for the Commonwealth Games.
Head coach Bernard Jackman rings the changes from the humiliating 45-13 loss to Southern Kings in an attempt to record a first Guinness PRO14 success since September.
Sam Beard and Connor Edwards form a new midfield partnership and experienced former Cheetahs scrum-half Sarel Pretorius and promising fly-half Arwel Robson are paired together.
Dee is joined by tighthead Lloyd Fairbrother in the front row after Leon Brown’s season-ending toe injury in Port Elizabeth while Aaron Wainwright gets the nod at openside.
Teenage back row forward Taine Basham is poised for a first Rodney Parade outing from the bench and he is joined among the replacements by fellow Wales Under-20s internationals Max Williams and Dan Babos.
Dan Suter is preferred to Nicky Thomas as back-up for Fairbrother while Adam Warren is back from injury to cover midfield with former Springbok Zane Kirchner, who starts at his preferred full-back, covering fly-half.
Scarlets-bound Uzair Cassiem starts at number eight for the Cheetahs while Ospreys-bound prop Tom Botha is among the replacements.
Dragons: Z Kirchner, A Hewitt, S Beard, C Edwards, H Amos, A Robson, S Pretorius, S Hobbs, E Dee, L Fairbrother, J Davies, C Hill (captain), H Keddie, A Wainwright, L Evans. Replacements: E Shipp, G Ellis, D Suter, M Williams, T Basham, D Babos, A Warren J Rosser.
Cheetahs: C Blommetjies, W Small-Smith, F Venter(captain), N Marais, S Maxano, F Zeilinga, T Meyer, O Nche, T van Jaarsveld, J Coetzee, J Basson, R Hugo, P Schoeman, O Mohoje, U Cassiem. Replacements: J du Toit, C Marais, T Botha, C Wegner, H Venter, Z Mkhabela, C Swart, AJ Coertzen.
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
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