Changes in the side for the New Year’s Eve clash include the half backs paring of Lewis Robling and Jonathan Evans.
There are no changes in the forwards after an inspired Boxing Day performance from all involved. Outside half Dan Evans has not recovered from his ankle sprain in time to be considered for selection.
Dragons Director of Rugby Robert Beale paid special thanks to the fans that travelled to Cardiff, saying, “Everyone at the Dragons would like to thank all the fans who travelled to the Arms Park on Wednesday, the vocal support we received from the fans was fantastic.”
Skipper Lewis Evans added, “The Dragons fans created a great atmosphere on Wednesday, in the Arms Park we all hope they can do the same for us here at Rodney Parade on New Year’s Eve.”
Ospreys Forwards Coach, Jonathan Humphreys, said “This period of three games in nine days is crucial for us and having won the first game, against the Scarlets, it really is vital that we keep on working hard as a group, looking to improve and to find the performance level that will get us into the play-off spots before the PRO12 goes into a break for Europe and the LV.
“As a coaching group, yes we’ve got to be pleased with the win against the Scarlets, but there’s still room for improvement. We showed great effort and commitment, good discipline and we played the game plan well but there were areas of the performance where we could have done better.
“With the quick turnaround and the nature of Christmas rugby here’s not much time to prepare for this game but what time we have got will be used to ensure the boys are focused and know what is needed to raise the performance another level again.
“It’s another tough week, with a difficult game in Newport followed by another tricky one at the Liberty against Zebre on Friday night. We have to make sure that everyone understands how important these games are to our PRO12 hopes, that we need to put top-level performances in, and if we do that, then we have a chance of getting the results we need.”
Dragons Hallam Amos, Will Harries, Pat Leach, Andy Tuilagi, Tom Prydie, Lewis Robling, Jonathan Evans; Phil Price, Sam Parry, Dan Way, Andrew Coombs, Rob Sidoli, Lewis Evans © Nic Cudd, Toby Faletau.
Replacements: Hugh Gustafson, Owen Evans, Nathan Buck, Adam Jones, Tom Brown, Wayne Evans, Steffan Jones, Jack Dixon
Ospreys 15 Richard Fussell 14 Ross Jones 13 Tom Isaacs12 Andrew Bishop 11 Eli Walker 10 Dan Biggar9 Kahn Fotuali’i (Capt); 1 Ryan Bevington 2 Richard Hibbard 3 Adam Jones 4 Lloyd Peers 5 James King 6 Ryan Jones 7 Sam Lewis 8 Joe Bearman.
Replacements: 16 Scott Baldwin 17 Duncan Jones 18 Cai Griffiths 19 Jonathan Thomas 20 Morgan Allen 21 Rhys Webb/Tom Habberfield 22 Matthew Morgan 23 Ashley Beck
