The young flanker will make his first appearance of the season for the Region following a summer tour with Wales, after making his debut for his county against Tonga.
The Welsh Region take on the Irish men on Friday 15th September, KO 19:30 at Rodney Parade. With forwards coach Ceri Jones looking forward to Griffiths’ return: “Ollie was outstanding last year for us so to have him back in the mix is great. We just want him to put consistent performances in for us, then it’s down to the Welsh selectors to have a look at him.
“If you look at Ollie as an athlete I think there are not
“It would be a huge challenge for him taking that step up to international rugby but I feel he is ready for it. I like Ollie a lot as a player and a person.”
Including Pretorius and Griffiths, Dragons head coach Bernard Jackman has made three personnel changes and two positional changes to the team that lost out to Edinburgh at Myreside. With no changes made to the back three, it’s Jack Dixon who joins Tyler Morgan in the centre partnership. The halfbacks also have one change as fly-half Gavin Henson is joined by scrum-half Sarel Pretorius.
Both the front row and second row are unchanged however the back row sees Harrison Keddie swap places with James Benjamin, as he moves to flanker and Benjamin moves to number eight. They are joined in the back row by flanker Ollie Griffiths.
The replacements bench sees five changes made, with the inclusion of Gerard Ellis and Robson Blake who are set to make their first Guinness PRO14 appearances.
Dragons team to face Connacht
15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Ashton Hewitt, 13 Tyler Morgan, 12 Jack Dixon, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 Gavin Henson, 9 Sarel Pretorius; 1 Brok Harris, 2 Elliot Dee, 3 Leon Brown, 4 Rynard Landman, 5 Cory Hill ©, 6 Harrison Keddie, 7 Ollie Griffiths, 8 James Benjamin.
Replacements: Gerard Ellis, Thomas Davies, Lloyd Fairbrother, Matthew Screech, Robson Blake, Owain Leonard, Dorian Jones, Jared Rosser.
Tickets are still available for the Dragons match against Connacht on Friday 15th September. To buy online please click here, alternatively call the ticket office on 01633 674990.
