Dragons v Aironi: Teams

Dragons fly-half Jason Tovey will start in the number ten jersey for Saturday's vital Magners League match against Aironi at Rodney Parade.

As centre Pat Leach returns from injury to start, Tom Cheeseman and Ashley Smith have both had to pull out with knee injuries.

Smith failed a fitness test following the injury he picked up against Glasgow two weeks ago, whilst Cheeseman picked up a knee injury in training at the start of the week.

Rising star Toby Faletau will make his first start of the season at No.8 and Steve Jones will start at hooker following the withdrawal of Tom Willis.

"The loss of Tom Cheeseman and Ashley have been blows for us this week," said Dragons head coach Paul Turner.

"It does seem that as soon as one player comes back from injury, another one picks one up - but that is professional sport and the players who are being called into the squad have a fine opportunity to prove themselves.

"I can see the confidence starting to return within the squad. Defensively we are getting tighter game by game and our attacking game is getting back to where it was last season."

Best wishes

Meanwhile, centre Matteo Pratichetti and flanker Simone Favaro are in the Aironi XV for Saturday's clash in Wales.

The two young Italian internationals will make their first starts of the Magners League season after recovering from summer surgeries.

In the backs, Julien Laharrague returns at full-back while Pratichetti will play alongside Rodd Penney in midfield.

The half-backs and the front row are unchanged from last week's defeat to Bath.

Carlo Del Fava replaces Quintin Geldenhuys in the second row.

There is more good news on the bench, where prop Fabio Staibano get his first call-up after recovering from a long term injury that needed a couple of surgeries since his move from French side Castres.

Aironi and, in particular, Viadana Rugby have also sent their best wishes to South Africa where former fly-half Casper Steyn, is fighting for his life after car accident. Steyn is the Italian side's top scorer in Heineken Cup.

"In my name and in name of Rugby Viadana and Aironi Rugby we are close to Delene and to their children in this hard and dramatic moment for our friend Casper," said CEO Franco Tonni.

Dragons: 15 Will Harries, 14 Adam Hughes, 13 Tom Riley, 12 Pat Leach, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Jason Tovey, 9 Wayne Evans. 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Gavin Thomas, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Rob Sidoli, 4 Luke Charteris (capt), 3 Pat Palmer, 2 Steve Jones, 1 Phil Price.
Replacements: 16 Lloyd Burns, 17 Hugh Gustafson, 18 Nigel Hall, 19 Scott Morgan, 20 Andrew Coombs, 21 Matthew Jones, 22 Nicky Griffiths, 23 Rhodri Gomer Davies.

Aironi: 15 Julien Laharrague, 14 Giulio Toniolatti, 13 Rodd Penney, 12 Matteo Pratichetti, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Ludovic Mercier, 9 Pablo Canavosio, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Nicola Cattina, 6 Simone Favaro; 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Carlo Del Fava; 3 Luca Redolfini, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Roberto Santamaria, 17 Fabio Staibano, 18 Alberto De Marchi, 19 Quintin Geldenhuys, 20 Jaco Erasmus, 21 Tito Tebaldi, 22 Gilberto Pavan, 23 Riccardo Bocchino.