Wales coach Warren Gatland will be keeping a close eye on one particular battle in the regional derby at Cardiff Arms Park this weekend.

As the autumn international campaign approaches, competition for places will be intensifying over the coming weeks.

One area where Gatland has a plethora of options to choose from is his former position of hooker.

And that is where Gatland will be particularly intrigued this Friday as Wales squad member Kristian Dacey goes head-to-head with promising Dragons hooker Elliot Dee in the East Wales derby.

Dacey said: “Elliot has played well at the beginning of the season, but it’s not an individual battle, it’s a team battle as all derbies are.

“In all fairness he has been doing really well so it’s going to be exciting. You want to play against the best players in your position and he’s one of them.”

Danny Wilson’s Blues welcome the Dragons to Rodney Parade on Friday in search of only their second win of the season.

The 28-year-old Dacey is expecting a tough battle against their bitter rivals and has backed his team-mates to come out fighting.

“I’ve never liked going to Rodney Parade to be honest. It’s always somewhere where I’ve picked up a silly injury, so it’s nice to be back at Cardiff Arms Park this week and hopefully we will get our supporters out,” said Dacey.

“We’ve had a tough season and they’re going to be massive for us moving forward. As a group of players we need to perform and what better game to perform in than a derby?

“It’s going to be massive and hopefully there will be a good crowd there and we can show people what we can do.

“We know we’ve got a squad capable of winning games, but we’ve let ourselves down over the last couple of years so we need to buck our ideas up and start getting results.”

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