THE Dragons have decided not to risk wing Ashton Hewitt and flanker Ollie Griffiths for tomorrow’s Guinness PRO14 clash against Zebre in Parma.

The pair were forced off in the season opener at Munster, Hewitt with a nasty cut to the face and Griffiths by a groin strain.

The management have played it safe and the influential duo will sit out the bid for a first away triumph in the PRO14 since March, 2015.

There is better news about centre Jack Dixon, who has been passed fit after being forced off by a shoulder injury in the opening stages of the 39-9 loss in Limerick.

South Wales Argus:

Director of rugby Dean Ryan makes five changes to the XV with Will Talbot-Davies (pictured above) coming in for Hewitt and Taine Basham replacing openside Griffiths.

Wales centre Tyler Morgan comes in for Adam Warren, loosehead Ryan Bevington is preferred to Brok Harris and Harrison Keddie returns at number eight with Lewis Evans shifting to blindside and Huw Taylor dropping to the bench.

The Dragons have not won in the 45 league games on the road since beating Treviso but a trip to Zebre, who were the PRO14’s bottom team last season, presents a golden opportunity.

“Zebre are well organised with a very big powerful pack,” said backs coach Barry Maddocks. “They are set-piece orientated but we played one of the best teams in Europe last weekend who have done exceptionally well over a number of years by playing that type of game.

“That will have put the boys in a good position to understand what they will face.”

Zebre: M Cioffi, C Walker, J Elliott, E Lucchin, P Bruno, M Biondelli, J Renton, D Fischetti, M Manfredi, A Tarus, M Kearney, G Biagi (captain), J Bianchi, J Meyer, G Licata.
Replacements: M Ceciliani, D Rimpelli, G Zilocchi, S Ortis, A Tauyavuca, N Casilio, L Mantelli, F Mori.

Dragons: J Williams, W Talbot-Davies, T Morgan, J Dixon, O Jenkins, S Davies, R Williams (captain), R Bevington, R Hibbard, L Brown, J Davies, M Screech, L Evans, T Basham, H Keddie.
Replacements: R Lawrence, B Harris, L Fairbrother, M Williams, H Taylor, T Knoyle, J Botica, A Warren.

Referee: Sean Gallagher (Ireland)