Elliot Dee and Taine Basham out of Dragons' URC opener

The Rodney Parade club get the campaign under way against their rivals from Swansea on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 3pm).

The Dragons have given plenty of youth a chance in pre-season but brought back several leading figures at Bath last weekend, notably the Wales summer tourists Ben Carter, Matthew Screech and Rio Dyer.

Full-back Angus O’Brien, centres Joe Westwood and Harry Wilson and lock Steve Cummins didn’t feature at the Rec but are in the mix for selection.

Fly-half Lloyd Evans, 15/10 Cai Evans and loosehead Rodrigo Martinez came off against Bath but as a precaution and are also hoping to get the nod for the opener.

However, the Ospreys has come too soon for hooker Dee, who has been out since suffering an ankle injury at the end of last season that ruled him out of Wales’ summer tour.

Back rower Basham will also sit out the derby clash after being troubles by leg injuries in pre-season.

DECISIONS: Dragons boss Dai Flanagan has some selection calls to make (Image: Kian Abdullah/Huw Evans Agency)

“Everyone got through the Bath game and we will have three or four into the 23 as well, which will be good for us,” said head coach Dai Flanagan.

“Elliot is still a week or two away from being fit to return from injury while Taine needs consistency of training because he has had a rather difficult summer with niggly issues around tendonitis.

“We will get them both right and they will be back right pretty soon.”

Tighthead prop Dmitri Arhip is also out while nursing a knee issue along while back rowers Aaron Wainwright, Ollie Griffiths and Solomone Funaki are injured.

The Dragons have a key first block in the URC with four of the six games before the break for the autumn internationals in Newport.

They host the Ospreys, head to Dublin to face Leinster, entertain the Sharks, Lions and Benetton before travelling to Galway to face Connacht.

The Dragons finished with just Zebre beneath them in the URC last season and could do with setting the tone for the first chunk of the season against an Ospreys side who qualified for the play-offs last season.

Flanagan’s men did stun them 20-5 at the start of the season – when visiting wing Mat Protheroe was red-carded early on – but they were then beaten 26-13 out west in a defeat that was more comprehensive than the scoreline suggests.

“We have done well and we have done poorly against them,” said Flanagan. “It’s been tough going to Swansea and playing them while it’s been great at Rodney Parade.

“They have a fantastic squad, they were top eight in the league and have a good coaching staff with a lot of experience from Toby Booth down.

“We know what we have to do and believe we have a way that can frustrate them and feed into the way that we want to play.”

The Dragons name their team for the opener at midday on Friday.

The referee for Saturday's derby will be Welsh novice Ben Breakspear, who is in charge of his third URC game.

Caldicot's Mike English and Ben Connor, whose dad Sean played for both the Dragons and the Ospreys, are running the line with Aled Griffiths as TMO.

URC fixtures

Friday: Cardiff v Zebre, Edinburgh v Leinster.

Saturday: Dragons v Ospreys, Munster v Connacht, Benetton v Scarlets, Ulster v Glasgow.