Louis Rees-Zammit will be back on Welsh soil this weekend as he lines up for Gloucester against the Dragons at Rodney Parade in Saturday night’s European clash (8pm). It’s a rare outing on a regional ground for the Wales and Lions winger who had an up and down Six Nations, being dropped after the Scotland game but then regaining his place in the starting line-up by the end of the campaign.
The presence of the Cardiff-raised 21-year-old is likely to boost the crowd further, with tickets already selling well for this Anglo-Welsh Euro encounter. He will be looking to help Gloucester end their Challenge Cup group campaign on a winning note. They are already guaranteed a home tie in the last 16, which will also feature Cardiff. That’s because they are certain to finish second in Pool B. The Dragons lie bottom of that group, having lost their three matches, and can’t reach the knock-out stages, which begin next week.
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It will be a landmark fixture for their centre Jack Dixon, who will play his 150th game for the region, becoming only the tenth player to reach that milestone. He made his debut back in October 2011, aged 16 years and 313 days. Director of rugby Dean Ryan has made six changes from last weekend’s 51-3 United Rugby Championship defeat to the Sharks out in South Africa.
Wales duo Taine Basham and Aaron Wainwright return in the back row, with Ross Moriarty out injured, while international wing Jonah Holmes also comes in for his first outing since February. There could be a senior debut for Academy product David Richards, who provides outside backs cover on the bench.
“We’re looking forward to facing Gloucester and it’s going to be a great atmosphere with a big crowd in at Rodney Parade,” said Ryan.
“Gloucester are having a strong season and also putting pressure on the top half of the English Premiership with some games in hand. They have an incredibly powerful forward unit and build their games off the back of that. They have got the ability to play quick, but it’s very much off the back of a forward platform and I don’t expect them to deviate from that.”
Giving his thoughts on the Dragons, Gloucester coach George Skivington said: “They’ve obviously got a good number of internationals coming back into the squad after the Six Nations who haven’t played for them much this season. They’ll be strong and both teams have got something that they want to get out of this game and momentum will be key for both. I expect it to be a very physical day and a very tough day. It’s a different challenge for us and it’s one we’ll embrace.”
Ticket sales for the game have been encouraging, with Dragons chairman David Buttress commenting: “It shows the size of our club, its potential and how big Dragons could be if we get our ownership and the critical wider Welsh rugby structure/investment sorted. It could be huge. Gwent rugby is intrinsically and historically big, but could be so much more.”
Dragons: Jordan Williams, Jonah Holmes, Adam Warren, Jack Dixon, Jared Rosser, Sam Davies, Gonzalo Bertranou; Greg Bateman, Elliot Dee, Leon Brown, Joe Davies, Will Rowlands, Harri Keddie (capt), Taine Basham, Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements: Taylor Davies, Aki Seiuli, Chris Coleman, Ben Carter, Ben Fry, Rhodri Williams, Will Reed, David Richards.
Gloucester: Kyle Moyle; Louis Rees-Zammit, Tom Seabrook, Billy Twelvetrees (capt), Ollie Thorley; George Barton, Ben Meehan; Harry Elrington, Santiago Socino, Kirill Gotovtsev, Freddie Clarke, Andrew Davidson, Jordy Reid, Harry Taylor, Ben Morgan.
Replacements: Henry Walker, Jamal Ford-Robinson, Bryan O’Connor, Alex Craig, Ruan Ackermann, Charlie Chapman, Louis Hillman-Cooper, Santiago Carreras.
