DRAGONS head coach Bernard Jackman has made nine changes for tomorrow’s European Rugby Challenge Cup opener at Newcastle Falcons (kick-off 3pm).

The Men of Gwent and the Falcons have met just twice before this in the Challenge Cup with both winning one game apiece.

Will Talbot-Davies gets the nod at full-back and will make his Challenge Cup debut, with Ashton Hewitt returning from injury and last weekend’s try scorer George Gasson selected to make up the back three.

The centre partnership sees Jared Rosser return from injury and pair up with Adam Warren who moves from the wing.

The half-backs have one change made to them as Angus O’Brien replaces Gavin Henson at fly-half and Sarel Pretorius retains his place.

There is a complete change in the front row as props Luke Garrett and Lloyd Fairbrother are named alongside hooker Liam Belcher who will make his debut for the Dragons.

The second row has one change made to it as Joe Davies joins Matthew Screech, as does the back row with Aaron Wainwright replacing James Thomas, joining skipper Ollie Griffiths and number 8 James Benjamin.

Commenting on his first start for the Dragons, 21-year-old Belcher said: “Everyone wants to show what we can do and if it’s your first game, like it is mine, you just want to try and prove a point.

“You want to stick your hand up and show what you are about.

“Any English team, no matter what level it is, will come with a big scrum, big driving maul and a big pack of forwards. As an eight it’s a big game for us to put a marker down.”

On the bench Gerard Ellis, Thomas Davies, Brok Harris, Rynard Landman, James Thomas, Gavin Henson and Pat Howard join Owain Leonard.

French centre Maxime Mermoz makes his competitive debut for the Falcons on Saturday.

The two-time European Champions Cup winner and triple French league champion starts in a potent line-up which also sees first starts for fellow summer arrivals Toby Flood, Ryan Burrows, Gary Graham and Sam Stuart.

The starting XV shows 11 changes from the one that took a four-try bonus point at Aviva Premiership champions Exeter Chiefs last weekend.

Newcastle are looking to extend their Kingston Park unbeaten streak to more than seven months after an encouraging start to the season.

Teenage flyer Adam Radwan is handed his first competitive start of the campaign after shining in pre-season, scoring in every game of the Falcons’ run to the Singha 7s finals and grounding three tries in his three friendly outings.

Simon Hammersley returns at full-back from the ankle injury sustained in the Falcons’ 33-32 victory at Bath four weeks ago, while England Saxons prop Scott Wilson is set for a first appearance of the season from the bench after recovering from injury.

Defence coach John Wells is keen for his side to build on a promising start to the Aviva Premiership season.

“Overall it has been a pleasing start, but we know it could have been even better,” said Wells, who is pleased with the depth of the Falcons’ squad but aware of the strides which need to be made.

“I don’t suppose the top six English teams who are in the Champions Cup this weekend are talking about resting players – they’re going full bore and rolling out the big boys who’ve been playing the first six weeks of the Premiership when they’re facing the likes of Clermont, Munster and teams of that ilk.

“There’ll be nobody in that kind of company talking about taking it easy, but for where we are at the moment we’ve probably got the ability to give some guys a bit of a breather and allow some of the players who are knocking on the door a chance to come in and show us what they can do.

"That said, I’d like to think that any team we put out will be competitive, and we’re going out there to win the game.

“We’re without Juan Pablo Socino in the back-line due to his two-week ban, which was very disappointing.

"We have a few guys out and have been forced to adjust as a result, but the side we’ve put out has plenty of ability.”

Newcastle enjoyed the right end of the result the last time they came up against the Dragons, when a rain-affected Anglo-Welsh Cup tie was brought to a halt at 18-6 up after 62 muddy minutes at Rodney Parade in January.

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Wells joked: “It was a fantastic game of rugby!

“As a former Leicester man I thoroughly enjoyed that game, and ironically it was probably one of our better performances.

“We kept things tight in defence and took our opportunities when they came, which wasn’t very often with the weather and the pitch the way they were.

“It was knee-deep in water and mud but we coped incredibly well.

“Fortunately it won’t be that bad on Saturday and both teams want to run the ball, which should hopefully lead to an enjoyable game for the crowd.”

Aware of the need to balance style with substance, he added: “We want to entertain but we also want to win games, so it’s a balancing act.

“I’m pretty sure that during the course of the season we are going to score a load of tries and put some good teams away with the quality of our attacking play, and conversely there are going to be wet, horrible days where we’re going to have to play ugly to win.

“Yes, we want to be liked as a side that people enjoy watching, but we need to be pragmatic as well.

"I think we’re achieving that balance fairly well at the moment, as we showed by winning in the rain at Sale then beating Bath on a sunny day at the Rec, so we just have to deal with the conditions and the games as they come.

"If we do what we do well for long enough periods of time during our games then I think we’ll be alright.”

Falcons: S Hammersley, A Tait, M Mermoz, T Flood, A Radwan, J Hodgson, S Stuart; R Vickers, B Sowrey, T Davison, W Witty, S Robinson, M Wilson (captain), G Graham, R Burrows.

Replacements: J Blamire, A Brocklebank, S Wilson, G Young, W Welch, R Dawson, C Cowell, C Harris.

Dragons: W Talbot-Davies, A Hewitt, J Rosser, A Warren, G Gasson, A O’Brien, S Pretorius; L Garrett, L Belcher, L Fairbrother, J Davies, M Screech, A Wainwright, O Griffiths (captain), J Benjamin.

Replacements; G Ellis, T Davies, B Harris, R Landman, J Thomas, O Leonard, G Henson, P Howard.