The Dragons are aiming to end a run of three defeats and have welcomed their Welsh World Cup players Kevin Morgan and Ceri Sweeney into the team while Michael Owen is named on the replacements bench.
The Dragons have made four changes to the team that lost to Munster with Morgan returning at fullback for Martyn Thomas who has a fractured hand and will be out for a couple of weeks. Gareth Maule replaces Ashley Smith who had a bump to his knee in the game against Munster, however, he is named on the replacements bench.
There is a new half back partnership with Sweeney replacing Aled Thomas and Wayne Evans in for Andy Williams who will be out for a week with a knee injury.
The Dragons pack remains unchanged for Saturday’s game with Wales U20 internationals Hugh Gustafson and Dan Lydiate keeping their places in the starting line up.
Ulster coach Mark McCall has made five changes from the starting fifteen that was defeated at Murrayfield last week including naming Darren Cave at outside centre. Cave has recently impressed at his club Belfast Harlequins scoring a hat-trick in each of his last two appearances and will get his first competitive start for Ulster against Dragons this weekend.
Mark Bartholomeusz gets the nod over Bryn Cunningham for the number 15 shirt; Bryn is named on the bench whilst new summer signing Kieran Hallett is on the bench as cover for Niall O’Connor.
Paul Marshall gets his first start for his province at scrum half with Kieran Campbell dropping to the bench. Marshall commented, “This is my first start for Ulster, I feel confident and I am looking forward to getting some more game time. David Humphreys has been giving me some good advice this week which has been really helpful. We have done all our preparation and we know what we need to do on Saturday.”
In the forwards Declan Fitzpatrick starts at tighthead prop ahead of Tom Court. Following Ryan Caldwell’s three match suspension Justin Harrison partners Tim Barker in the second row with Italian International Carlo Del Fava acting as second row cover on the bench.
Dragons: Kevin Morgan (capt); Gareth Wyatt, Rhodri Gomer Davies, Gareth Maule, Richard Mustoe; Ceri Sweeney, Wayne Evans; Hugh Gustafson, Steve Jones, Rhys Thomas, Luke Charteris, Andrew Hall, Dan Lydiate, Richard Parks, Joe Bearman
Replacements: Ben Daly, Adam Black, Jamie Ringer, Michael Owen, Phil Dollman, Ashley Smith, Alex Walker.
Ulster: M Bartholomeusz; M McCrea, D Cave, T Bowe, S Danielli; N O’Connor, P Marshall; J Fitzpatrick, N Brady, D Fitzpatrick; J Harrison, T Barker; M McCullough, D Pollock, R Wilson (capt)
Replacements: M Miles, T Court, C Del Fava, N McMillan, K Campbell, K Hallett, B Cunningham
