Dragons v Toulouse: Teams

Charteris: Starting berth

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• Newport Gwent Dragons

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• Luke Charteris

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Luke Charteris, fresh from signing a new deal, lines up in the Dragons starting XV for Saturday's Heineken Cup game against Toulouse at Rodney Parade.

The Welsh second row, who has nine caps to his name, put pen-to-paper on a new three year deal earlier in the week, and takes his place in the Dragons pack alongside Adam Jones.

With Marc Stcherbina out for the foreseeable future due to the neck injury he picked up in last week's 26-7 defeat to Toulouse, there has been a shuffle in the backs.

Ashley Smith comes in at inside centre, and is joined by Rory Sidey in a new-look midfield, whilst Jason Tovey is preferred to Phil Dollman at full-back. There is also a rare start for Shaun O'Connor at fly-half.

Meanwhile, Toulouse have once again announced an all-international matchday 22.

Nightmare

There are a handful of changes to the side that dominated Dragons a week ago, most significantly at fly-half where David Skrela returns to the starting XV in the place of Frederic Michalak.

Despite being excellent with ball in hand, Michalak missed place kicks at Ernest Wallon. Skrela will be out to improve on his last kicking display - a nightmare from the kicking tee that cost France victory against Australia in Paris.

Elsewhere in the back-line, Florian Fritz comes in for Fijian outside centre Maleli Kunavore, who will not need to lace up his boots this weekend since coach Guy Noves has again opted for a five-two split in favour of the forwards on his bench.

In the pack, stalwart lock and captain Fabien Pelous returns to the second row after pulling out of last week's game at the last minute with a sore back.

There are also some rotation changes in the front row as props Benoit Lecouls and Jean-Baptiste Poux swap places with Dan Human and Salvatore Perugini.

Despite walking away with a relatively easy bonus-point win in Toulouse last Saturday, Noves was highly critical of his side's performance citing too many handling errors, a lack of patience and poor kicking as his reasons for his discontent.

Dragons: 15 Jason Tovey, 14 Gareth Wyatt, 13 Rory Sidey, 12 Ashley Smith, 11 Tal Selley, 10 Shaun Connor, 9 Wayne Evans, 8 Joe Bearman, 7 Colin Charvis, 6 Hoani Macdonald, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Adam Jones, 3 Rhys Thomas, 2 Tom Willis (c), 1 Adam Black.
Replacements: 16 Steve Jones, 17 Gethin Robinson, 18 Danny Lydiate, 19 Jamie Ringer, 20 Robert Lewis, 21 Rhodri Gomer Davies, 22 Phillip Dollman.

Toulouse: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Maxime Médard, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cédric Heymans, 10 David Skrela, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Shaun Sowerby, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Fabien Pelous, 3 Benoit Lecouls, 2 William Servat, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux.
Replacements:16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Dan Human, 18 Salvatore Perugini, 19 Gregory Lamboley, 20 Jean Bouilhou, 21 Frédéric Michalak, 22 Gaffie Du Toit.