DRAGONS chief Bernard Jackman has hailed Wales internationals Ross Moriarty, Richard Hibbard and Aaron Jarvis for the array of qualities they have brought to the fold at Rodney Parade.

The trio, who have 79 Test caps between them, are three of the standout names among the 14 brought to the region by Jackman in preparation for the new season.

Of the triumvirate, only hooker Hibbard will be involved in Saturday's friendly away to Ealing Trailfinders (kick-off 3pm), with prop Jarvis injured and back-row ace Moriarty suspended.

While Jarvis is set to come back from a bicep injury in October, Moriarty will miss all of the Dragons’ warm-up matches and their first PRO14 fixture because of his red card for Wales in Argentina.

“Ross was our first high-profile signing last November and we brought him because of his age profile, his talent, his hunger and his abrasiveness,” said the head coach.

“Gwent teams have always had tough, abrasive packs and we want to build that, and we saw him as being one piece of that jigsaw.

“Obviously he misses round one but we’re looking forward to seeing him out here and at away stadiums being that hard and abrasive player which was why he was a British and Irish Lion.

“He’ll definitely keep that edge (after the red card). I’ve spoken to him a lot but not around toning it down.

“It was a one-off incident. He can be physical through his defence and ball carrying, and some of his tackle counts in Argentina were 20-plus a game. That’s why he’s so valuable.”

On Hibbard, he added: “I played against Richard and admired him from afar with Ospreys, Gloucester and Wales. He’s been even better than we expected.

“There has been a real opportunity for him to become a senior player straight away. That was the job we asked of him and he has delivered.

“He has got the respect of everybody and is still really ambitious as a player, which is exactly what we wanted.

“We want someone who still wants to play for Wales and win with the Dragons.”

In Jarvis, the Dragons have someone who played the best rugby of his career at Clermont Auvergne, a spell which included a Champions Cup final appearance in 2017.

“We’ve been very happy with Jarvis,” said Jackman. “He has given us another player who knows what good looks like and can share his knowledge.

“He learnt a lot at Clermont around the scrum, and having him and Lloyd (Fairbrother) and Leon (Brown) as our frontline tightheads gives us much more depth there, which is what we need.

“Last year when we looked to go to the bench we didn’t really have as much as we would have liked and when we had injuries we were exposed so we’ve more strength in depth.”