The 29-year-old has been named amongst 13 changes and one positional change to the side that faced table toppers Exeter Chiefs last weekend at Rodney Parade.
Tom Prydie moves from wing to fullback as Matthew Pewtner returns to the back three alongside wing Ashton Hewitt. The centre partnership consists of Pat Leach, who makes his return from injury, and Ashley Smith who retains his place from last weekend. Angus O’Brien steps up to take on the role of fly half and Luc Jones gets his first start of the 2014/15 season as scrum-half.
The front row is all change as props Phil Price and Brok Harris get the nod; they are joined by Thomas Rhys Thomas who starts as hooker. The second row consists of Andrew Coombs who is joined by South-African skipper Rynard Landman. Lewis Evans returns in the back row as flanker and joins young gun James Benjamin who retains his place. Nick Crosswell makes the move from flanker to number 8 to complete the back row.
Centre Ashley Smith said: “There’s no such thing as a dead rubber and we are all looking forward to training and cracking on with preparation for London Welsh,” said the 27-year-old, who was captain against the Chiefs.
“I don’t know what the coaches are going to do in terms of selection but there is still plenty to play for. They rotated the squad for Exeter and brought a lot of players in who hadn’t featured much and we will see if they will decide to start looking towards Leinster with the boys who played a lot of rugby over the previous weeks.”
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