DRAGONS v BIARRITZ:NEWPORT GWENT Dragons boss Paul Turner has promised Biarritz "a warm welcome" when the French giants play at Rodney Parade tonight.
The teams meet again just five days after Biarritz blitzed their Heineken Cup opponents 49-13 on home soil. But the Dragons, who are nine points behind the Pool Two leaders, boast an impressive pedigree when it comes to beating French teams at home in Europe.
Stade Francais, Perpignan and Castres all came unstuck on visits to Newport during the past five seasons, suggesting it is a mission Biarritz cannot take lightly.
“The defeat last Sunday does not detract from the good work we are doing at the Dragons,” said head coach Turner.
“We are looking to give Biarritz a warm welcome to Rodney Parade, and if we play well enough we can beat anyone there.
“We are trying to use our squad as best we can, but we’re not a major power in Europe. We accept that, but we like to be competitive.
“We need to win to make qualification a reality. We are playing back-to-back matches against a quality outfit, and if you make that number of errors in France as we did, then you get punished.”
Turner has made seven changes, with injuries sidelining fullback Jason Tovey, scrumhalf Wayne Evans and flanker Dan Lydiate, while a thigh problem means Wales lock Luke Charteris is again absent.
Martyn Thomas takes over from Tovey, Joe Bearman replaces Lydiate and hooker Steve Jones captains a side that also includes former All Blacks number nine Danny Lee.
“Our injuries are a big blow, added Turner. “Luke Charteris and Dan Lydiate are our in-form Welsh players at the moment and it’s very disappointing for them and for the team as a whole that they can’t be involved tonight.
“This is offset to a certain extent by the return of Tom Willis and Joe Bearman whose absence has been really felt on the pitch.
“There is no doubt that we need a win tonight to keep our European hopes alive. We need to start well and eradicate the errors from last weekend.
“A week (or should I say five days) is a long time in rugby and tonight we are certainly looking to set right the problems of last week and take the game to Biarritz.”
Biarritz make a number of changes. Nicolas Brusque comes in at fullback for the injured Iain Balshaw while Ayoola Erinle replaces Takudzwa Ngwenya on the wing.
Up front, Trevor Hall replaces Florian Faure, moving the impressive Samiu Vahafolau to number eight and Romain Terrain rotates with Benoit August at hooker.
