BATH v DRAGONS (Saturday, KO 2.15)

NEWPORT Gwent Dragons head coach Darren Edwards has challenged his young guns to ensure their more experienced rivals are watching on from the sidelines when the RaboDirect Pro12 returns.

The Dragons kick-off their LV= Cup campaign at Bath on Saturday and a number of young tyros have been given the chance to impress.

Starts will be handed to 18-year-old full-back Hallam Amos, 17-year-old centre Jack Dixon and 19-year-old number eight Ieuan Jones along with 21-year-old Bedwas winger Ross Wardle.

Edwards insists that this in no development move – after five defeats on the spin the young guns have every chance of keeping the jersey in the must-win home clash against Connacht on November 23.

“They are on the cusp and they could stay in this team for the rest of the season if they put in the performances,” said the head coach.

“All of these boys have incredible talent and it would be great for us if they burst onto the scene.

“Hallam and Jack have shown what they can do for us at regional level while as a coaching team we are excited about seeing Ieuan out there because he has done it in the Premiership and now needs to show he can make the step up.

“Ross is a power runner who was very impressive when he was with us in pre-season, particularly in our friendly against Biarritz.

“He has started the season excellently with Bedwas and now I want him to respond to the challenge against Bath.

“We want the players that start to show that they deserve to keep that jersey over the coming weeks.

“Every week is really important to us and the LV= Cup isn’t just about development for us – we want some selection headaches.

“All of these players will be judged against the performances of those that have started in recent weeks and months. We will pick the best side we can for the fixture after that.

“But make no mistake, this is not just about performance. We need a win to give us confidence and momentum and we’re all working extremely hard to achieve that.”

The Dragons have been boosted by the return from injury of scrum-half Wayne Evans, yet to appear this season because of back trouble, and back row forward/lock Andrew Coombs, who suffered a knee injury against Zebre on opening day.

But the region will be without in-form number eight Tom Brown (knee), lock Rob Sidoli (head), flanker Lewis Evans (head) and prop Phil Price (knee) after they were injured in Glasgow.

The injuries are not serious and they could be in contention for the home fixture against Northampton a week on Sunday, as could centre Andy Tuilagi who has been struggling with a hamstring problem.

The side will be captained by blindside flanker Jevon Groves.

Dragons squad: D Evans, H Amos, W Harries, R Wardle, J Dixon, A Smith, P Leach, L Robling, S Jones, J Evans, L Davies, W Evans, O Evans, N Williams, H Gustafson, S Parry, D Way, N Buck, T Ryan, I Nimmo, A Jones, J Tyler, A Coombs, I Jones, N Cudd, J Groves (captain).