Dragons v Sale: Teams

Newport-Gwent Dragons fly-half Shaun Connor will become the fifth player to lead the region this season against Sale on Sunday afternoon.

The side's meet at Rodney Parade on Friday night, live on Sky Sports, in what looks an intriguing LV= Cup encounter.

"I'm really looking forward to tonight's match and it's a real honour to be captaining the team," said Connor.

"As the fifth captain the region has seen through injury and international duty, I have seen how the other guys have all stepped up so I'm well aware of what's needed from me tonight.

"Having said that, the Dragons are a pretty easy team to lead - especially at the moment when everybody is working as hard as they can for each other and for the team."

And although the injury problems at the Dragons have created some selection headaches, Connor is definitely the man for the job according to head coach Turner.

Courageous

"I am confident that Shaun will do a great job as captain," he said. "As a former 10 myself I know that it is a position of leadership. James Arlidge and Jason Tovey have the same qualities from acting as the lieutenant and controlling the game, so it's not much of a step up to the captaincy.

"Although it is not ideal to have to change your leader so often, I think the more leaders and players taking responsibility we have on the pitch the better."

The Dragons come into Sunday's game in great spirits following their first away win in any competition since January against Edinburgh at Murrayfield.

"It's great to be coming into tonight's game off the back of last weekend's win," said Turner.

"Sunday was one of the most courageous performances I have ever witnessed in my time at the Dragons and the win is a credit to the players who travelled, as well as the support staff who went up to Edinburgh and the great support we had in Murrayfield from the Dragons supporters."

Sale Sharks director of rugby Kingsley Jones has selected his side for Friday evening's trip to Wales.

Speaking ahead of the match, Jones said, "We are expecting a very tough game. Paul Turner has done a great job with the Dragons and they had an excellent result at the weekend when they won at Edinburgh.

"They also ran Gloucester very close in the Heineken Cup in October. This is a competition we are looking to do well in and I have named a team that I believe will do well."

Dragons: 15 Martyn Thomas, 14 William Harries, 13 Rhodri Gomer Davies, 12 Matthew Watkins, 11 Richard Fussell; 10 Shaun Connor (c), 9 Danny Lee; 1 Dan Watchurst, 2 Duane Goodfield, 3 Pat Palmer, 4 Hoani Macdonald, 5 Adam Jones, 6 Lewis Evans, 7 James Harris, 8 Grant Webb.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Brown, 17 Hugh Gustafson, 18 Peter Bracken, 19 Toby Falatau, 20 Rob Sidoli, 21 Alex Walker, 22 Adam Greendale, 23 Matthew Pewtner.

Sale Sharks: 15 Nick Macleod, 14 Ben Cohen, 13 David Bishop, 12 Lee Thomas, 11 Marika Vakacegu, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth; 1 Eifion Roberts, 2 Mahonri Schwalger, 3 Jack Forster, 4 Sean Cox, 5 Dean Schofield, 6 James Gaskell, 7 Luke Abraham, 8 Carl Fearns.
Replacements: 16 Neil Briggs, 17 Rob O'Donnell, 18 Martin Halsall, 19 Kristian Ormsby, 20 Sisa Koyamaibole, 21 Dwayne Peel, 22 Mathew Tait, 23 Oriol Ripol.