Dragons won't risk Wales star Wainwright for Benetton clash

The Rodney Parade club have a six-day turnaround to the clash with the Italians in Newport after Sunday’s 23-19 defeat to the Lions.

There was a slim hope that Wainwright would be back to feature in some capacity against Benetton (kick-off 7.35pm) after making a rapid recovery from a torn hamstring suffered on international duty at the start of July.

The number eight has said he would not be comfortable playing for Wales this autumn without having first returned to the field in club colours.

However, this weekend’s game has come too soon and the Dragons are not prepared to risk their talisman, even if his presence would give them a huge lift.

“Aaron is flying but we just have to make sure he is safe,” said head coach Dai Flanagan. “If he was to play then it would be 14 weeks since the injury, which is too early. He won’t play against Benetton.”

The Wales squad is named next week and Wainwright would have the final game of the first URC block, away to Connacht, if he was to get his wish for a club return before country.

Meanwhile, Wales hooker Elliot Dee has had a setback and won’t feature in the first block of games but Steve Cummins could come in for a debut on Saturday.

The Australian lock will need to prove his fitness after a hand injury suffered against Hartpury in pre-season.

DENIED: The Dragons suffered defeat to the Lions at Rodney Parade (Image: Chris Fairweather/Huw Evans Agency)

The Dragons were in the game against the Lions on Sunday but Flanagan felt his side were flat and admits his options are limited to freshen up the XV.

“We haven’t got much left, that's the brutal truth,” he said. “We are very skinny as a squad and have a six-day turnaround to play what is arguably an international team at Rodney Parade.

“We have to be really smart with how we do our work this week because we are down to the bare bones, there’s no other way to describe it.

“The finances are what they are. Should we have won two out of four games? Yes. Can we blame the squad size for that? No.

“But going forward into these next two games is going to be extremely difficult and we have to be prepared for that, we will have to trust some youngsters and give them exposure.”

The Dragons will hope loosehead Rhodri Jones can recover from a knee injury but a raft of senior players – Wainwright, Dee, George Nott (shoulder), Dmitri Arhip (knee), James Benjamin (concussion), Cai Evans (hamstring), Solomone Funaki (knee), Ashton Hewitt (knee) – are sidelined.

PROBLEM: Dragons full-back Angus O'Brien is not a goal-kicking option because of a niggle (Image: Kian Abdullah/Huw Evans Agency)

Meanwhile, full-back Angus O’Brien is fit and available but is not an option for goalkicking because of a leg injury that led to him being a late withdrawal at Leinster in round two.

The Dragons missed 10 points from the tee in the narrow loss to the Sharks while Lloyd Evans missed a conversion and Will Reed hit the post with a routine penalty against the Lions.

“Angus has a slight abductor issue so he’s not a kicking option for us off the tee at the current time,” said Flanagan.