Dragons duo Ashton Hewitt and Ross Moriarty will make their long-awaited returns to the rugby field when Wasps head to Rodney Parade on Friday night for a pre-season encounter (7pm kick-off).
Speedster Hewitt, who has twice been selected for Wales squads only to be ruled out through injury, will make his first appearance since April 2021, having recovered from the serious knee damage which wiped out more than a year of his playing career. He required surgery on his anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments after suffering the fateful fitness blow against Northampton in the European Challenge Cup. Almost 18 months on, he has been "itching to get back in", according to director of rugby Dean Ryan.
He said of the 27-year-old winger: "Ashton has spent a long time out and worked incredible hard to get back. It is almost 18 months and a long time off the field. He is itching to get back in. Sometimes he sets himself incredibly high standards and I want him to enjoy [Friday] because he has missed it for a long time. He is fully fit and desperate to get on the field – he doesn’t appear to have lost any pace!"
Fit-again Wales international Ross Moriarty also returns in the pack a matter of days after becoming a dad for the first time. He had been set to make his return following knee surgery in the Dragons' opening pre-season friendly against Bristol last Friday but withdrew as he awaited the birth of his daughter.
The 28-year-old back-rower suffered nerve damage in April 2022 against Sharks and was ruled out of Wales' summer tour of South Africa, but is now set to relish his return.
"He's desperate to play... we weren't expecting him [at training on Monday], we thought maybe Tuesday we'd see him but he's keen to get back involved," confirmed Dragons director of rugby Ryan.
Hewitt and Moriarty are among 10 changes from the 45-28 defeat to Bristol as the Men of Gwent step up preparations ahead of the new United Rugby Championship season.
The back line includes a first start on home soil for centre Max Clark, while Jordan Williams comes in at full-back. A new half-back pairing sees Sam Davies and Lewis Jones combine.
Elliot Dee and Lloyd Fairbrother are named up front. Joe Davies returns from suspension to partner George Nott, who is also handed a first start at Rodney Parade. Prop Aki Seiuli is named among the replacements after international duty with Samoa during the summer months.
Back-rower Ollie Griffiths is ruled out with a pulled back which could see him miss the United Rugby Championship opener away to Edinburgh on September 17, with an injury Ryan admitted he hadn't really seen before.
Wales prop Rob Evans will also not face Wasps as he recovers from a knock on his cheek but is expected to return to action soon.
As for the URC opener little more than a fortnight away, Ryan said: "We’ve got 25 players that we have an eye on for Edinburgh. I want to play as many of those as I can and give them a chance.
"We’ve looked at combinations this week and last week with a view to being closer to that 15 by the end of the Wasps game. We spoke to the whole group about not using this pre-season as a chance for everyone. It is about getting some momentum in the year. It is up to people to take their opportunities when they present themselves."
As for the visitors, Wasps coach Lee Blackett has named a 28-man squad to travel to Wales with Brad Shields captaining the side once again from blindside flanker following an impressive outing in the 56-0 pre-season win over Doncaster Knights last time out.
Back-rower Alfie Barbeary returns to the Wasps squad and makes the bench having been ruled out of last week's trip due to illness, while Paolo Odogwu hasn't recovered from his deadleg in time to feature.
Dragons RFC: 15. Jordan Williams, 14. Rio Dyer, 13. Max Clark, 12. Jack Dixon, 11. Ashton Hewitt, 10. Sam Davies, 9. Lewis Jones, 1. Rhodri Jones, 2. Elliot Dee, 3. Lloyd Fairbrother, 4. Joe Davies, 5. George Nott, 6. Sean Lonsdale, 7. Harri Keddie (capt), 8. Ross Moriarty.
Replacements: Bradley Roberts, Aki Seiuli, Luke Yendle, Huw Taylor, Lennon Greggains, Rhodri Williams, JJ Hanrahan, Sio Tomkinson, Josh Reynolds, Ben Fry, David Richards, Angus O’Brien, Jared Rosser.
Wasps: 15. Ali Crossdale, 14. Luke Mehson, 13. Sam Spink, 12. Ryan Mills, 11. Josh Bassett, 10. Charlie Atkinson, 9. Dan Robson, 1. Robin Hislop, 2. Tom Cruse, 3. John Ryan, 4. Tim Cardall, 5. Kiran McDonald, 6. Brad Shields (capt), 7. Ben Morris, 8. Tom Willis.
Replacements: Elliot Millar-Mills, Dan Frost, Biyi Alo, Cam Dodson, Fyn Brown, Kieran Curran, Alfie Barbeary, Will Porter, Burger Odendaal, Olly Hartley, Zach Kibirige, Matteo Minozzi.
