NEWPORT Gwent Dragons boss Kingsley Jones believes Wales centre Tyler Morgan will be able to hit top gear next year thanks to racking up the miles this season.

The 21-year-old from Caerleon will miss his first game since January when the Dragons take on Edinburgh at Myreside in the Guinness PRO12 tomorrow (kick-off 7.35pm).

Morgan is nursing sore ribs suffered in the Judgement Day defeat to the Scarlets a fortnight ago but has notched 23 appearances in his most consistent season.

After bursting onto the scene at the end of 2013/14, the centre's promise saw him given a national dual contract. He won two of his three caps in the 2015 World Cup but suffered a shoulder injury in the quarter-final loss to South Africa that ruined his domestic campaign.

He was left out of Wales' Six Nations squad this season but Jones believes a return to the Test scene is on the cards thanks to Morgan's growing maturity and dependability.

"Tyler is a really solid player now," said the head coach. "He hasn't had star performances and man of the match awards but do you know what, he's had very few games where you've gone 'Oh Tyler!' [after mistakes].

"He is delivering and will be a better player for that next year. He is going to a very good player and I use the analogy of driving a car.

"When you learn to drive you are looking at the gear stick and moving the mirror, when you have been driving for years you don't think about it.

"When you have played 100 games you do things without thinking. Tyler can do those things now and think three phases ahead and deceive people.

"That's what this season and playing 20-odd games will have done for him. Next year we will use him a bit smarter because we've deliberately given him all these games because he has needed them."

The Dragons are hopeful that Morgan, who has started in 19 of his 23 appearances, will be fit for their season finale against Cardiff Blues in Caerphilly a week on Saturday.

By then he will hope to have received good news from Robin McBryde with the interim Wales boss set to name his squad for the summer Tests against Tonga and Samoa next week.