A month after the heartache of having to give up the captaincy and leave his home town club Pontypool, hooker Leighton Jones is on the verge of playing against one of the top teams in the Northern Hemipshere.

Jones joined Newport from Pooler in the fall-out after the decision not to retain his father Steve Jones as coach.

Now after just one full appearance he has been included in the Newport Gwent Dragons squad to face Guinness Premiership leaders Leicester in Friday night's opening Powergen Cup-tie at Rodney Parade.

Jones joins fellow Newport club player Andrew Brown as the hookers in a 24-man squad named for the game and though Brown is favourite to start after appearing in the past two Dragons matches Jones is likely to be on the bench ready to go on.

The situation has arisen because the Dragons first choice hookers are both out, Steve Jones with a recurrence of his knee injury and Kieran Crawford with a damaged shoulder.

But the Dragons have been assured Jones will be back in good time for next month's Heineken Cup competition after revisiting the specialist who operated on him on Monday night.

He must rest for a few days after receiving an injection, then resume training after being told there is no long term damage, and he is expected to be back for the Edinburgh Celtic League game on October 14.

It's not just the Dragons who are suffering from problems at hooker as Wales coach Mike Ruddock's options are already severely limited for the Autumn internationals.

Mefin Davies is playing second fiddle to Olivier Azam at Gloucester, Wales' two North America tour hookers from the summer, Matthew Rees and Rhys Thomas, are both out with knee injuries while Barry Williams has retired from international rugby and Robin McBryde has quit rugby on medical advice.

The Dragons have named British Lions Michael Owen, Wales' Grand Slam captain, and Gareth Cooper in their squad for the first time this season and Ceri Sweeney also returns for the first time since the opening game.

Owen has been forced to rest after the Lions tour of New Zealand and though Cooper might have been available because he played little part in the tour, he has been out after an ankle operation.

If he continues to train without any adverse effects he will be on the bench against Leicester while Sweeney should be in the team provided there is no reaction to his groin problems, though it is unclear whether coach Paul Turner will play him at outside half or inside centre.

Turner is also weighing up his options on the left wing where there are several alternatives, but it looks like there could be quite a shake up.

There are fewer choices open to him up front especially as lock Luke Charteris is almost certainly out after aggravating a calf injury against Ulster and picking up others, but Peter Sidoli has recovered from his elbow injury.

Dragons squad: K Morgan, G Wyatt, H Luscombe, J Bryant, S Tuipulotu, A N Other, C Sweeney, C Warlow, G Baber, G Cooper, J Ireland, A Black, D Maddocks, R Thomas, A Brown, L Jones, I Gough, P Sidoli, L Charteris, A Hall, R Bryan, M Owen, J Ringer, J Forster (captain). Kick off 7.10pm.