BROK Harris will switch to loosehead prop in Newport Gwent Dragons’ European Rugby Challenge Cup semi-final against Edinburgh.
The South African has been a huge success since arriving as a Currie Cup winner in November but 17 of his 20 starts have been as a tighthead.
However, the Dragons have shifted the 30-year-old across the scrum, something they have frequently done in game, in the absence of former Leicester front rower Boris Stankovich (calf).
Harris will be charged with holding steady against his compatriot Willem Nel with Dan Way getting the nod at tighthead and Phil Price dropping down to the bench.
The rest of the XV is unchanged following last Sunday’s 25-22 win against Leinster in the Guinness Pro12 but director of rugby Lyn Jones makes changes to his replacements.
Wing Ashton Hewitt and prop Lloyd Fairbrother replace Carl Meyer and Luke Garrett respectively as they are not registered for Europe.
Edinburgh are boosted by the return of prolific scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne but are hit by the absence of powerful number eight David Denton, who was forced off in the opening stages of last Saturday’s 34-3 home loss to Munster.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh: J Cuthbert, D Fife, S Beard, A Strauss, T Visser, P Burleigh, S Hidalgo-Clyne, A Dickenson, R Ford, WP Nel, A Bresler, B Toolis, S McInally, R Grant, M Coman (captain). Replacements: N Cochrane, R Sutherland, J Andress, F McKenzie, C Du Preez, N Fowles, T Heathcote, T Brown.
Dragons: J Tovey, T Prydie, T Morgan, J Dixon, H Amos, D Jones, J Evans, B Harris, R Thomas (captain), D Way, J Thomas, C Hill, N Crosswell, N Cudd, T Faletau. Replacements: R Buckley, P Price, L Fairbrother, M Screech, J Benjamin, L Jones, A Hewitt, GR Jones.
Referee: JP Doyle (England)
- If the scores are level at full-time then there will be two 10-minute extra time halves. If the score are still level then the winner will be the team that has score the most tries.
If the Dragons and Edinburgh still cannot be split then there will be a place-kick competition.
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