After the Dragons home game at Rodney Parade was cancelled last weekend because of a waterlogged pitch, the region are ready to take on this battle away from home at the RDS (Friday 14th February KO 19:45).
Head coach Darren Edwards commented, “Leinster are a very well organized team and are currently doing well in the league. So going over there will be difficult for us.
“When we beat Glasgow away I thought that for us was a major stepping stone, we imposed Glasgow’s game on them and actually won that battle. Now we know a formula that does work, it’s just about making sure we keep attacking that.
“We play a certain style here and it works really well, so we do get results at home. But I do think that we need to do something away from home - we really need to concentrate on the basics of the game. When teams change their squads around like Leinster will have to because of the Irish boys in the national squad, our our set piece and kicking game need to be spot on.”
Hallam Amos has made the move from wing to fullback from the game against Newcastle in the LV=Cup. He is joined in the back three by Matthew Pewtner who returned from injury last week and Will Harries who moves from open side to blindside. The centre pairing is made up of Pat Leach and experienced player Ashley Smith. Jason Tovey gets the nod as fly-half and welsh international Richie Rees takes his place as scrum half.
The front row takes on the form of Owen Evans as loose head prop, Welsh international hooker T. Rhys Thomas is called upon and Nathan Buck comes in as tight head prop. The second row is taken up by young gun Cory Hill and C Rob Sidoli, who also dons the captaincy. As for the back row Lewis Evans and Nic Cudd are named as the flankers and Fijian international Netani Talei pulls on the number 8 jersey.
The bench is made up of the following players, Sam Parry, Aaron Coundley, Nathan Buck, Matthew Screech, Jevon Groves, Wayne Evans, Steffan Jones and Ross Wardle.
Dragons Team to face Leinster
Hallam Amos, Matthew Pewtner, Pat Leach, Ashley Smith, Will Harries, Jason Tovey, Richie Rees; Owen Evans, T. Rhys Thomas, Nathan Buck, Cory Hill, Rob Sidoli (c), Lewis Evans, Nic Cudd, Netani Talei.
Replacements
Sam Parry, Aaron Coundley, Francisco Chaparro, Matthew Screech, Jevon Groves, Wayne Evans, Steffan Jones, Ross Wardle.
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