Roberts and Brown make return for Dragons in
JAMIE Roberts and Leon Brown will make their first appearances of the season after returning from injury when the Dragons take on Edinburgh tonight (5.15pm).
Prop Brown suffered a shoulder injury whilst on international duty with Wales in the summer and takes a spot on the bench. Centre Roberts also returns after recovering from minor knee surgery and is deemed fit enough to start in the 12 jersey.
“On Brown’s lengthy lay-off, Director of Rugby Dean Ryan said: “It has been a significant time loss and him being injured has not been easy.
“We would look at this next six to 10 weeks as being a real opportunity for him to go back and learn and find that form back through playing.
“What we see in Leon at the moment is huge potential.
“It’s not guaranteed to turn up every week because every week is a different challenge for him, every week the game is slightly different and he hasn’t had the opportunity to play consistently enough to know enough of those answers.
“What you do see in each game is massive potential and massive instances.
“So the challenge is to keep him fit, keep him playing and provide him with 16-18 games a year.
“Going into the World Cup, you would want him to have two seasons of 15 upward full games, so he has enough experiences to know what to do facing France or Australia.
“Everybody is delighted to see him back in full training and we hope to have him back fresh now ready to go.
“This next phase of games is going to be a big window for Leon to really gather some experiences because I hope those experiences will propel him back into the Welsh squad.”
The Dragons’ starting line-up sees Greg Bateman, Taylor Davies and Chris Coleman line up in the front row with Ben Carter and Joe Maksymiw packing down behind. The back row sees skipper Harri Keddie joined by Taine Basham and Ollie Griffiths.
Argentinian international Gonzalo Bertranou is joined by Sam Davies at half-back, while Jack Dixon joins
Roberts in the centre with Rio Dyer, Jonah Holmes and Jordan Williams make up the back three.
Brown wears number 18 and will be looking to make a big impact from the bench.
Speaking ahead the game, skipper Keddie said: “Edinburgh have transitioned with coaches and they’re obviously playing a lot more expansive rugby than they have done before.
“They’ve still got a good foundation of their set piece, they’re still a good scrummaging and mauling team and they’re very accurate at getting out of their own half.
“They’ve added layers to it and now they’ve added more of an attacking game from deep in their own half.” Dragons: Jordan Williams, Jonah Holmes, Jack Dixon, Jamie Roberts, Rio Dyer; Sam Davies, Gonzalo Bertranou; Greg Bateman, Taylor Davies, Chris Coleman, Ben Carter, Joe Maksymiw, Harri Keddie (c), Taine Basham, Ollie Griffiths. Reps: Ellis Shipp, Josh Reynolds, Leon Brown, Joe Davies, Huw Taylor,
Dan Babos, Aneurin Owen, Jordan Olowofela Edinburgh: Emiliano Boffelli, Damien Hoyland, Matt Currie, James Lang, Ramiro Moyano; Blair Kinghorn, Ben Vellacott (c); Boan Venter, Adam Mcburney, WP Nel, Marshall Sykes, Jamie Hodgson, Nick Haining, Luke Crosbie, Magnus Bradbury. Reps: Dave Cherry, Harrison Courtney, Angus Williams, Connor Boyle, Ben Muncaster, Henry Pyrgos, Charlie Savala, Cammy Hutchison. Ref: Mike Adamson (Sco).