BOSS Dai Flanagan says the Dragons will be forced into making changes at the Scarlets because of the brutal festive schedule.

The Rodney Parade club have had no time to wallow after a last-gasp defeat to Cardiff in Newport on Boxing Day.

They face a United Rugby Championship trip to Llanelli on New Year’s Day (kick-off 5.15pm), a key game in their bid to avoid finishing bottom in the Welsh Shield.

Head coach Flanagan will assess his squad over the coming days but is likely to tinker with the team for the trip west on Sunday.

Scrum-half Rhodri Williams was forced off against Cardiff but Argentina international Gonzalo Bertranou is nearing a return from a knee injury while Wales flankers Taine Basham (dislocated elbow) and Ollie Griffiths (back) are back in contention.

“There are a couple of niggles while concussion will wipe out a player. Hopefully we’ll have a couple of players back as well,” said Flanagan.

“We’ve got a good squad and they played a lot of rugby in South Africa for a reason; they are ready when needed and I will trust anybody that we put in.”

The Dragons go from Llanelli on Sunday back to Newport for a Friday night date with the Bulls, a run of three games in 12 days.

The Scarlets game will be their fifth six-day turnaround of the campaign and they will have just five days to prepare for the South Africans.

The Bulls, who were URC runners-up last season, have a quickfire trip to Europe in between a New Year’s Eve derby with the Sharks and a home Champions Cup date against Exeter.

South Wales Argus: Dragons boss Dai FlanaganDragons boss Dai Flanagan (Image: Huw Evans Agency)

“We’ve got another six-day turnaround. We’ve somehow ended up with a lot of them and it’s really difficult to prepare when bodies are sore after physical games,” said Flanagan.

“Off the back of a six-day turnaround we have a five-day turnaround to the Bulls game. I’m not sure whether that’s happened before but that’s life and we’ve got to get on with it.

“We have a changing room full of tough boys who will be ready. Ideally you wouldn’t want to change too many between derby games and the Bulls, but realistically when you have that short a turnaround there will be players that won’t be able to back it up.”

The Dragons currently have an eight-point gap over the Scarlets, who they finish the season against at Judgement Day.

Last season they upset the odds in Llanelli before the west Walians, who had Flanagan on their coaching team, got swift revenge the following weekend in Newport.

The Scarlets have won just won league game this season and are fresh from a derby defeat against the Ospreys in Swansea when flanker Tomas Lezana was sent off in the fifth minute for a dangerous tackle.

The Argentina flanker is set to be suspended for the Dragons game while fly-half Sam Costelow will miss out after failing a head injury assessment for a high shot that led to Ospreys fly-half Owen Williams being yellow-carded.