DRAGONS wing Ashton Hewitt made his long-awaited return from injury as he played the first half of the friendly defeat against Wasps on Friday.

Hewitt has been sidelined for 17 months after rupturing his knee ligaments when scoring against Northampton in April 2021.

The 27-year-old had hoped to return last season, but was held back by the Dragons’ medical staff, who were taking no risks after his painstaking rehab.

But after a full pre-season, Hewitt returned to the field on Friday night against Wasps to stake a claim for a start in the United Rugby Championship opener.

It wasn’t quite the dream return for the Newport-born winger, however, with Dragons trailing 14-0 at the break, before eventually falling to a 28-12 loss.

South Wales Argus: Ashton Hewitt on the front foot against Wasps. Picture: Huw Evans Picture Agency.Ashton Hewitt on the front foot against Wasps. Picture: Huw Evans Picture Agency.

“I just think it’s about starting strong,” Hewitt said when reflecting on the loss with Dragons TV. “We’re going to have our main points that we always refer back to, and they just weren’t there in the first half.

“I think physicality, we lost out on that. Just that little bit of urgency - it was a bit frantic - we just lost our composure a little bit and they were on top of us in every aspect.

“It got to about 50 minutes and the boys came off the bench and sorted that out and managed to get a couple of tries, which was great.

“We started to look more of the team we want to be. It’s about addressing what happened in the first half, taking those positives from the second half, and moving on to next week.”

South Wales Argus: Dragons winner Ashton Hewitt returned to the field after 17 months out.Dragons winner Ashton Hewitt returned to the field after 17 months out.

Hewitt said he was “buzzing” to return to the field after such a long absence, and added his appreciation for the support he has received from the fans throughout the last year and a half.

“After the first 10 minutes where I had to get used to the pace of the game again,” he said.

“It was tough, but it was just good to be back to it without having to worry about anything else but playing.

“It was good. It would probably be a bit silly of me to think I was going to come back and be in the form that I was from before I did my injury.

“It was nice to just come out of the game unscathed.

“I probably would have liked to have had another 20 minutes or so, but [the boss] made the smart decision to just give me the half.

“Hopefully I can kick on now and get some more game time next week before the season starts.”

After two home friendlies, with a 45-28 loss to Bristol in their first run-out, Dragons travel to Llanelli on Friday to tackle Scarlets before their URC curtain-raiser against Edinburgh on Saturday, September 17.