Newport Gwent Dragons face Glasgow Warriors at Rodney Parade this Friday and, although both sides lost their opening two fixtures last weekend, neither will be short of confidence.

The Dragons came within six minutes of beating Gloucester at Kingsholm, outscoring their English opponents by two tries to one, while Glasgow almost upset French Giants Biarritz before losing 22-18 at Firhill.

These two sides have already met once in South Wales this season, with the Dragons triumphing 30-19 on September 18.

They are no strangers in European competition either, having faced each other at the same stage of last year’s Heineken Cup when the home side were victorious on both occasions.

Glasgow posses a horrific away record in Europe’s showpiece event following just two wins in 30 matches outside of Scotland.

However the second of those victories came against three-times European Champions Toulouse in their last Heineken Cup outing, suggesting that Sean Lineens’s squad can beat anyone, anywhere on their day.

Welsh lock Luke Charteris will again captain the Dragons as Head Coach Paul Turner has named a 27-man squad for Friday’s match. Captain Tom Willis will not be available for the Men of Gwent following a Calf injury. Ali McKenzie and Nigel Hall have not been named after picking up hand and shoulder injuries respectively in the opening match against Gloucester last week. They will both undergo further assessment this week.

Prop Phil Price returns, having played in the Dragons’ pre-season friendly against Worcester and front row Gethin Robinson returns from a shoulder injury to take up a place in the squad.

Dragons squad for Glasgow

Backs
M Thomas, J Tovey, A Brew, W Harries, R Fussell, T Riley, A Smith, R Gomer Davies, J Arlidge, S Connor, W Evans, D Lee,

Forwards
D Goodfield, S Jones, P Price, G Robinson, P Bracken, A Jones, R Sidoli, L Charteris, J Harris, G Thomas, H MacDonald, D Lydiate, L Evans, J Bearman