Dragons v Ospreys - RaboDirect Pro 12 match preview

Jonathan Humphreys: vital part of the season

Tom Prydie: missed the narrow defeat at Cardiff on Wednesday

Wales wing Tom Prydie returns to the Newport-Gwent Dragons side to face Ospreys at Rodney Parade on Monday after a knee injury kept him out of the 12-10 defeat at Cardiff Blues on Boxing Day.

Lewis Robling and Jonathan Evans come in at half-back, while there are no changes in the forwards pack. Outside half Dan Evans has not recovered from an ankle sprain in time to be considered for selection.

Director of Rugby Robert Beale paid special thanks to the fans who 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 crushed Scarlets 32-3 on Wednesday as they hunt a top-four place but are still without a host of stars for the short trip to Newport, including Justin Tipuric (shoulder), Alun Wyn Jones (shoulder), Hanno Dirksen (Knee) and Joe Rees (neck).

Forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys told the Ospreys website: "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."

Dragons: 15 Hallam Amos, 14 Will Harries, 13 Pat Leach, 12 Andy Tuilagi, 11 Tom Prydie, 10 Lewis Robling, 9 Jonathan Evans; 1 Phil Price, 2 Sam Parry, 3 Dan Way, 4 Andrew Coombs, 5 Rob Sidoli, 6 Lewis Evans (capt), 7 Nic Cudd, 8 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 Isaacs, 12 Andrew Bishop, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 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: Scott Baldwin, Duncan Jones, Cai Griffiths, Jonathan Thomas, Morgan Allen, Rhys Webb/Tom Habberfield, Matthew Morgan, Ashley Beck.

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