The 30-year back row man, who has a record 204 games for the Dragons already under his belt, has fully recovered from a pre-season Achilles injury and will play in the Dragons Premiership Select XV in their home clash with last season’s beaten finalists, Jersey Reds, at Ystrad Mynach (Saturday, 21 October, kick-off 2.30pm)
Lewis is one of six changes to the side that went down 27-20 at London Scottish in Round 1 and they will be hoping Wales Under 20 outside half Arwel Robson can conjure up the last minute heroics he produced when the two sides last met in Wales. Jersey looked set to leave Cross Keys’ Pandy Park with the spoils when they led 27-23 with 10 seconds left, but Robson finished off a stunning counter-attack to claim a dramatic 30-27 victory.
Jersey eased past Yorkshire Carnegie 32-3 in the Channel Islands in their opening game and will arrive with two former Wales Under 20 caps in their back row in Rory Bartle and Rory Pitman.
“Lewis will give us a bit of experience in the pack, which will be great for us. You have to win your home games if you want to qualify, which we do, and Saturday will be a big ask for us,” said Dragons academy manager James Chapron.
Scarlets head coach Euros Evans has made four changes, one positional, to the side that started in the 24-18 defeat to Ulster A in N.Ireland last weekend for the visit of English Championships newcomers Hartpury to Parc Y Scarlets (Saturday, 21 October, 2.30pm kick-off).
Dan Jones is the only change to the backline, coming in at outside half, while in the pack Simon Gardiner and Tom Price are drafted in and Jack Jones moves from the second row to the blindside flank.
The other two Welsh Regions both have to travel with the Ospreys Premiership Select side heading to Goldington Road to face Mike Rayer’s Bedford Blues on Saturday (3.00pm kick-off). Luke Price takes over the No 10 jersey from Phil Jones and Hugh Gustafson replaces Ifan Phillips at hooker.
“We’ve taken a lot of lessons out of the defeat to Munster A. We didn’t get the result but we learnt a lot from their performance, and how we can put what they put into practice in our game,” said coach Richard Fussell.
“We gifted them a couple of tries and, from our perspective, if we can eradicate those errors within it will give us a better chance of staying in the contest and putting in a better performance. Bedford are a class outfit and are doing well in the championship.
“They’ll probably come out strong in this competition given their result against Nottingham last weekend. They’ll obviously have home advantage, they’ve got a quality pack, and a big physical backline with pace to burn.
“It’s going to be a big challenge for us, and I think they’ll offer us something a little different to Munster, but we’re going to take that challenge head on, aim to get a good performance and get a result out of it.”
Justin Burnell has made seven changes to his Cardiff Blues Premiership Select side for the trip to Dublin to face Leinster A at Donnybrook Stadium on Saturday night (7.30pm kick-off). The Blues were beaten 31-7 by Bristol in their opening game at Sardis Road last weekend.
Kyle Evans and Lloyd Rowlands are brought into the back three as Dale Stuckey, who scored his side’s only try last week, keeps his place on the wing. Owen Lane moves to inside centre and scrum-half Lewis Jones takes over from Dane Blacker.
Rhys Carre and Kirby Myhill replace Chris Phillips and Ethan Lewis in the front row, where Will Davies-King, named man-of-the-match against Bristol, joins them on the tight head side of the scrum. Shane Lewis-Hughes and Osian Davies come into the side to replace Hemi Barnes and Morgan Sieniawski, who drop to the bench.
Teams
Dragons PS XV: Will Talbot-Davies; Joe Goodchild, Chay Smith (Newport), Dorian Jones, Rio Dyer; Arwel Robson, Owain Leonard; Phil Price (captain), Ellis Shipp, Keagan Bale, Scott Andrews, Lance Randall (Ebbw Vale), Lewis Evans (Dragons), Nathan Hudd (Bedwas), James Sheekey.
Reps: Alun Rees (Ebbw Vale), John Lavender (Newport), Garin Harris (Newport), Josh Skinner (Cross Keys), Ben Roach, James Leadbeater (Cross Keys), Barney Nightingale
Scarlets PS XV: Morgan Williams; Tom Prydie, Ioan Nicholas, Steff Hughes (captain), Ryan Conbeer; Dan Jones, Declan Smith; Rhys Fawcett, Evan Yardley, Simon Gardiner, Josh Helps, Tom Price, Jack Jones, Shaun Evans, Jack Condy
Reps: Torin Myhill, Steff Thomas, Javan Sebastian, Dan Davis, Alex Schwarz, Billy McBryde, Tomi Lewis
Ospreys PS XV: Dafydd Howells; Tom Williams, Joe Thomas, Kieran Williams, Jay Baker; Luke Price, Matthew Aubrey; Rowan Jenkins, Hugh Gustafson, Rhys Henry, Matthew Dodd, James Ratti, Josh Cole, Will Jones (captain), Rob McCusker
Reps: Luke Davies, Mitchell Walsh, Jack Pope, Morgan Morris, Reuben Morgan-Williams, Phil Jones, Andrew Claypole
Blues PS XV: Lloyd Rowlands (Pontypridd); Dale Stuckey (Pontypridd), Harri Millard (Cardiff Blues), Owen Lane (Blues Academy), Kyle Evans (Merthyr); Ben Jones (Blues Academy), Lewis Jones (Cardiff Blues); Rhys Carre (Blues Academy), Kirby Myhill (Cardiff Blues), Will Davies King (Pontypridd), Sean Moore (Pontypridd), Ben Murphy (Merthyr), Shane Lewis-Hughes (Blues Academy), Osian Davies (Merthyr), Sion Bennett (Cardiff Blues)
Reps: Joe Page (Pontypridd), Tom Mably (Blues Academy), Hemi Barnes (Pontypridd), Morgan Sieniawski (Pontypridd), Dane Blacker (Blues Academy), Ben Thomas (Blues Academy), Max Llewellyn (Blues Academy)
