Dragons v Glasgow: Teams

Charteris: Retains captaincy

Related links

Teams

• Glasgow
• Newport Gwent Dragons

Also see

• Sky Sports experts
• Rugby on Sky
• Live scores
• Video highlights

Newport Gwent Dragons will no doubt be looking to emulate last month's Magners League success in their upcoming home Heineken Cup clash against the Glasgow Warriors.

Welsh lock Luke Charteris will once again captain the Dragons with Tom Willis still absent due to a calf injury.

Returning to the 27-man squad is prop Phil Price following his appearance in the Dragons' pre-season friendly against Worcester.

Head coach Paul Turner has also named Gethin Robinson to make a return, with the front-rower recovered from a shoulder injury.

Ali McKenzie and Nigel Hall will not feature, with both due to undergo further assessment after sustaining hand and shoulder injuries respectively in the Dragons' opening Heineken Cup match against Gloucester last week.

Glasgow Warriors are boosted by the return of international scrum-half Chris Cusiter for their visit to Rodney Parade.

Cusiter, who has been out for three weeks with a flu bug, was frustrated to miss the Warriors' opening Cup defeat to Biarritz last weekend but is happy to be back in the Glasgow jersey.

Frustrating

"It's been really frustrating to miss the last couple of games, especially with such a big match last weekend at the start of the Heineken Cup campaign," said Cusiter.

"I'm relieved to be over the worst of the flu and I now need to repay the faith shown by the coaches for putting me straight back in the team.

"We simply have to win Friday if we are to be serious about progressing through to the knockout stages. It's the same situation for the Dragons so I am anticipating a very close game. It's a 'must win' encounter for both sides."

Also returning to the squad is international centre Graeme Morrison, who has been recuperating from a shin injury which he sustained when the Warriors last visited Wales.

Morrison will step in for Rob Dewey, who suffered a broken ankle in the Biarritz clash, with DTH van der Merwe, the other casualty from last week, replaced by Scotland 7s internationalist Colin Shaw.

Dragons: 15 Martyn Thomas, 14 Aled Brew, 13 Tom Riley, 12 Ashley Smith, 11 Will Harries, 10 James Arlidge, 9 Wayne Evans, 1 Phil Price, 2 Steve Jones, 3 Peter Bracken, 4 Adam Jones, 5 Luke Charteris, 6 Dan Lydiate, 7 Gavin Thomas, 8 Lewis Evans.

Replacements: 16 Duane Goodfield, 17 Hugh Gustafson, 18 Gethin Robinson, 19 Hoani MacDonald, 20 Rob Sidoli, 21 Danny Lee, 22 Richard Fussell, 23 Jason Tovey.

Glasgow: 15 Bernardo Stortoni, 14 Colin Shaw, 13 Dave McCall, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Thom Evans, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Chris Cusiter, 1 Jon Welsh, 2 Dougie Hall, 3 Moray Low, 4 Tim Barker, 5 Alastair Kellock, 6 Richie Vernon, 7 John Barclay, 8 Johnnie Beattie.

Replacements: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Kevin Tkachuk, 18 Ed Kalman, 19 Dan Turner, 20 Colin Gregor, 21 Hefin O'Hare, 22 Peter Horne, 23 Kelly Brown.