Preview: Dragons v Treviso

Editor

Luke Charteris will play his 100th RaboDirect PRO12 game when he captains the Dragons against Treviso at Rodney Parade on Friday.

Luke Charteris will make his 100th RaboDirect PRO12 appearance when he captains the Dragons against Treviso at Rodney Parade on Friday.

In the back-line, Andy Tuilagi misses out with a dead leg and is replaced by Adam Hughes at outside centre. Joe Bedford also gets a start at scrum-half ahead of Wayne Evans.

Jevon Groves is rested after his exploits for Cross Keys in their British & Irish Cup semi final win last week and is replaced by Lewis Evans at seven.

The other changes come in the front-row where Sam Parry makes his first senior start at Rodney Parade and Nathan Williams replaces Phil Price.

17-year-old Hallam Amos is named among the replacements and could make his first senior Rodney Parade and RaboDirect PRO12 appearance if he comes off the bench. Hallam is rewarded for some impressive performances whilst away with the Wales U18s side who finished fourth in the FIRA European Championships last week. Scott Morgan is also on the bench having overcome a pectoral injury suffered against Exeter in December.

Both teams return from a week's break and Treviso are subsequently able to call upon a fresh and full-strength line-up for the RaboDirect PRO12 showdown in Newport.

Luke McLean, Ludovico Nitoglia and Brendan Williams form a strong back-three while Tommaso Iannone and Alberto Sgarbi are at centre outside Kris Burton and Edoardo Gori.

Up front are Lorenzo Cittadini, Franco Sbaraglini and Michele Rizzo, with lock Antonio Pavanello captaining a dominant-looking forward pack for head coach Franco Smith.

Treviso have won two out of three matches against the Dragons so far. But they have to recover from the previous match when they lost 41-10 to the Ospreys at Liberty Stadium.

Form: Dragons have won four of their last six encounters in the RaboDirect PRO12. Dragons have been defeated in two of their last three matches at Rodney Parade, whilst their only loss in their last eight games against Italian opponents was in Treviso in October 2010. Benetton Treviso have slipped to nine straight defeats in all competitions since beating Aironi 37-14 at Stadio Monigo on New Year's Eve. Treviso have not won away from home since they visited Connacht on 2 December. All three previous PRO12 encounters between the two teams have been won by the home side in the day, whilst the Italians have not won in Wales since they beat Dragons at Rodney Parade in the Heineken Cup in 2007.

Rugby Union betting odds

The teams:

Dragons: 15 Will Harries, 14 Tonderai Chavhanga, 13 Adam Hughes, 12 Ashley Smith, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Lewis Robling, 9 Joe Bedford, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Lewis Evans, 6 Danny Lydiate, 5 Rob Sidoli, 4 Luke Charteris (capt), 3 Nathan Buck, 2 Sam Parry, 1 Nathan Williams.
Replacements: 16 Steve Jones, 17 Phil Price, 18 Dan Way, 19 Scott Morgan, 20 Tom Brown, 21 Wayne Evans, 22 Jason Tovey, 23 Hallam Amos.

Treviso: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Tommaso Iannone, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Brendan Williams, 10 Kristopher Burton, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Marco Filippucci, 5 Corniel Van Zyl, 4 Antonio Pavanello (capt), 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Franco Sbaraglini, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Diego Vidal, 17 Matteo Muccignat, 18 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet, 19 Valerio Bernabò, 20 Francesco Minto, 21 Simon Picone, 22 Fabio Semenzato, 23 Alberto Di Bernardo.

Date: Friday, April 13
Kick-off: 19:30 BST
Venue: Rodney Parade
Referee: James Matthew (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Sean Brickell (Wales), Chris Williams (Wales)
Television match official: Tony Rowlands (Wales)