JARED Rosser will make his first appearance of the season in the Dragons’ Boxing Day derby against Cardiff Blues at the Arms Park.
The 21-year-old winger from Abersychan has not yet featured for Dean Ryan after suffering a pre-season leg injury.
Rosser took part in the pre-match preparations for last weekend’s Guinness PRO14 derby win against the Scarlets and is one of five changes for the clash in the capital.
The winger, a try-scoring hero in last season’s success against the Ospreys that ended a four-year losing streak against Welsh rivals, comes in for former Blue Owen Jenkins, who suffered an ankle injury last time out.
Director of rugby Ryan freshens up his front row with hooker Richard Hibbard and tighthead Aaron Jarvis, who both performed strongly off the bench against the Scarlets, swapping places with Elliot Dee and Leon Brown respectively.
Wales number eight Ross Moriarty makes his first start of the season for the Dragons after being an impact sub last weekend following his post-World Cup illness with Cory Hill returning to his specialist position of lock.
Joe Davies is among the replacements at the expense of Samoa international Brandon Nansen.
Tyler Morgan gets the nod at outside centre with Adam Warren dropping to the bench, where young loosehead Josh Reynolds, back row forward Harri Keddie and scrum-half Luke Baldwin are brought in.
Dragons: W Talbot-Davies, J Rosser, T Morgan, J Dixon, A Hewitt, S Davies, R Williams (captain), B Harris, R Hibbard, A Jarvis, M Screech, C Hill, A Wainwright, T Basham, R Moriarty. Replacements: E Dee, J Reynolds, L Brown, J Davies, H Keddie, L Baldwin, J Botica, A Warren.
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