MICHAEL Owen is targeting a regular place in the Newport Gwent Dragons team before even considering a return for Wales.

Owen is highly-rated by Wales coach Steve Hansen, who converted him from number eight to lock for the August internationals against Ireland and Scotland.

Hansen sees Owen as a ball- winning, ball-handling lock, but he was forced to abandon the experiment when the player suffered a back injury which forced him out of the World Cup and out of rugby for over three months.

Owen is finally starting a match again when he plays at lock for Newport Gwent Dragons against The Borders at Galashiels tonight (6pm).

"I've got a battle on my hands just to get back in the Dragons team. I hope to put my hand up and do well, then see what happens," said Owen.

"I'm trying not to have expectations, I want to be involved with Wales but I've got to try to establish myself with Gwent.

"We are still developing and we've got to improve, but the boys have done a fantastic job and with some coming back from the World Cup or injury it's making it really competitive.

"You can see the quality in the squad when you look at the players in the back five." Whether it is at lock or number eight Owen has got plenty of rivalry with Ian Gough and Peter Sidoli seemingly settled and Ross Beattie, Rhys Oakley and Shawn van Rensberg all pushing.

Despite Hansen's wish to play Owen at lock, he still prefers the number eight position where he has played most of his rugby.

"I probably prefer to play in the back row, it's more open there and it's where I've played the most," he said.

"But I just want to play. It's been my longest lay-off, and with my knee injury at the end of last season it's been a double whammy.

"It's been a long time since I started a game, I've had a little taste coming off the bench, but there's a lot more to come.

"Hopefully we'll get a good result against Borders. The boys did well at Leicester and were brave in defence, but perhaps didn't attack them which we're aiming to do now.

"I can't wait to get started again. We've got a really hard month ahead and we're playing some good teams so it's going to be tough, but it's what you play the game for. It's going to be exciting."

The Borders will be without their most experienced player, Gregor Townsend leaving for South Africa today and his Super 12 season with Natal Sharks.

They include four youngsters who new Scotland coach Matt Williams rates highly - wing Nikki Walker, centre Gareth Morton who plays at full back tonight, scrum half Chris Cusiter and hooker Ross Ford.

Borders: G Morton, N Walker, J Stuart, K Utterson, C Moir, C Laidlaw, C Cusiter, K Todd, R Ford, B Douglas, S Macleod, C Stewart, C Feather, D Kane, S Sititi. Replacements: S Scott, J Cross, D Weir, T Walker, I Fairlie, D Macrae, C Murray.