OLLIE Griffiths has suffered more injury misfortune with the all-action back rower set to miss the Dragons' European Challenge Cup quarter-final against Bristol.

The 25-year-old Wales international suffered a hamstring injury in training that has ruled him out of the derby clashes to end the 2019/20 Guinness PRO14 campaign.

The Dragons are using the Ospreys and Scarlets fixtures to build towards their last-eight tie against the Bears at Ashton Gate on September 18.

However, Griffiths has been sidelined and director of rugby Dean Ryan is unlikely to have the dynamic forward, who can play across the back row, in his matchday squad until the new PRO14 season, which gets under way in October.

South Wales Argus:

"Ollie has some problems with a hamstring, so we are just being careful around that," said director of rugby Dean Ryan.

"Ollie has got some challenges in terms of the games that he has missed so we have got to be really careful. It's a long, long year.

"It might be a decision with the quality of our back row that we don't have to (rush him). We've got to be better at looking at longer blocks instead of next week, next week."

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Griffiths won his solitary Wales cap as a late replacement against Tonga in 2017 and after a bright start to the season earned an appearance for new national boss Wayne Pivac in the uncapped fixture against the Barbarians last November.

However, his attempts to push onto the international stage have frequently been hindered by injuries with leg issues limiting him to just seven appearances under Ryan.

At the Liberty Stadium the boss named Ross Moriarty at number eight with up-and-coming flankers Ben Fry and Taine Basham either side of the 2017 Lions tourist, with Wales international Aaron Wainwright on the bench.

It was 21-year-old Fry's first PRO14 start and the combative blindside impressed Ryan.

South Wales Argus:

"I though Ben Fry looked the part," he said. "If you are an experienced international on the other side there is nothing worse than having a hungry 21-year-old on the opposite side.

"I thought Ross was physical at the Ospreys and if you put those two together then they are a pain in the backside, and that's what you want back row to be.

"Aaron came in and very sharp, he looked like he could impact the game at any moment. That's where we want him, we don't need to rush him and get loads of minutes under his belt.

"We know where he can play and he is very hungry to come in and be an influence."

The management will tinker with the line-up for the Scarlets on Saturday, sticking with the plan of giving opportunities ahead of the Bears cup tie.

"We said before that if we make this about 15 players, we could have picked differently but we know they won't be standing come Christmas," said Ryan.

"We also know there are seven weeks of internationals, and we are notoriously under pressure in those windows.

"Our big challenge is always about the group that sits in behind (the Test players), so these two games are a big opportunity to expand our experience."