Dean Ryan: Dragons' Wales stars will return against Wasps

The region will play Champions Cup rugby for the first time since 2010/11 when they entertain English Premiership runners-up Wasps on Saturday.

The Test contingent of hooker Elliot Dee, tighthead Leon Brown, back row forward Aaron Wainwright, centre Nick Tompkins and wing/full-back Jonah Holmes are back from their Autumn Nations Cup exertions.

They have returned to a Dragons squad in high spirits thanks to back-to-back Guinness PRO14 wins on the road, following up a hard-fought win at Benetton by stunning Glasgow.

Tompkins came off the bench at Scotstoun Stadium after missing out on Wales' finale against Italy while the other four all came off the bench at Parc y Scarlets.

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"There is a balance of getting our internationals back and getting them back up to speed with what we are doing," said director of rugby Ryan.

"It's been eight weeks so that is a significant challenge to integrate them back into the squad.

"They will definitely feature but we have got to see where they are at; some are coming back buzzing and some are coming back a little bit disappointed.

"We've got to get that right in terms of where we are as a group but they definitely add a huge amount of value to us."

The return of the Wales stars will shunt out some players who have performed strongly in Treviso and Glasgow.

"There is good competition in the squad and we are starting to now think tactically about what suits us," said Ryan.

"We've got used to a regular XV and they basically play until they are exhausted or injured and then we try and find someone else. In some positions we have now got some strength in depth."

The Wales internationals add some star quality to a Dragons side that will be underdogs for their Champions Cup dates with Wasps and Bordeaux-Begles.

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The region have not played in Europe's top tier since being whitewashed by Wasps, Toulouse and Glasgow a decade ago.

"We are going to enjoy it. We understand the size of the challenge that we are going to face, but we are going to enjoy it," said Ryan.

"Something like 70 per cent of our squad have never played in the Champions Cup and it's been 10 years since the region have been there.

"Right from the (European Challenge Cup quarter-final) game against Bristol when we finished off last season. this is the level of competition that the squad have wanted to test themselves at.

"Sometimes it will highlight things that we need to get better at but we won't know about that until we play at the highest level. Over the next couple of weeks we will be right at the top."