THE Dragons are holding a batch of senior players back for Bath next week after naming their side to take on Bristol at Clifton RFC tomorrow (kick-off 7.30pm).

The Rodney Parade club are building towards their United Rugby Championship opener against the Ospreys on Saturday, September 21.

After being edged out by Hartpury University RFC of the English Championship in a high-scoring encounter last Saturday they make short trips over the Severn Bridge to take on Premiership opposition in Bristol and Bath.

There is plenty of youth still in the squad for the clash with the Bears, who are also set to take on Doncaster behind closed doors this weekend.

Head coach Dai Flanagan has named a 32-strong group for the game at Clifton with summer signing Lloyd Evans making a first outing at fly-half.

STARTER: Lloyd Evans pulls the strings for the DragonsSTARTER: Lloyd Evans pulls the strings for the Dragons (Image: Kian Abdullah/Huw Evans Agency)

Wing Jared Rosser, scrum-half Rhodri Williams, loosehead Rodrigo Martinez, hooker James Benjamin and back rowers Harri Keddie and Ryan Woodman also feature after sitting out the Hartpury game.

A raft of other seniors will then be brought back for the game at the Rec, although there will be no qualms about fielding some influential figures against the Ospreys even if they haven’t had a summer hit-out to go with their training.

Flanagan said: “The Bristol game allows us the opportunity to integrate more senior players into the squad, but also give valuable minutes and development time to our academy youngsters.

“We acknowledge we are at a different stage in pre-season to Bristol, we expect them to play a very strong side, but what is important to us is that we build depth in our squad, get more game time into players, and assess all options available to us.

“We expect further senior players to return for the Bath fixture as we continue to shape our pre-season to give us the best opportunity to make a strong start to our league campaign.”

The Dragons are in the market for a tighthead after the retirement of Lloyd Fairbrother and their vulnerability in that department is highlighted this weekend.

Wales international Leon Brown is being held back with a view to facing Bath while Chris Coleman and Dmitri Arhip are nursing niggles.

That has led to the Dragons turning to Hartpury for help while looking to bring someone in with former Ospreys, Worcester and London Scottish tighthead Joe Rees, 34, playing on permit to cover starter Luke Yendle.

The Dragons have also borrowed a pair of Newport RFC players in lock Joe Peard and wing Iwan Pyrs-Jones, with the Black and Ambers not in action ahead of next weekend’s Super Rygbi Cymru opener against Bridgend.

Dragons: Huw Anderson, Ewan Rosser, Harry Wilson, Joe Westwood, Jared Rosser; Lloyd Evans, Dane Blacker; Rodrigo Martinez, James Benjamin, Luke Yendle, Joe Davies, George Nott (captain), George Young, Harri Keddie. Owen Conquer.

Replacements: Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths, Oli Burrows, Brodie Coghlan, Joe Rees, Owain James, Nick Thomas, Joe Peard, Evan Minto, Sam Scarfe, Ryan Woodman, Rhodri Williams, Morgan Lloyd, Will Reed, Steff Hughes, Aneurin Owen, Jordan Williams, Iwan Pyrs-Jones.