JONAH Holmes is set to start at full-back for the Dragons at Ulster after being released from Wales duty for match action.

The speedster will feature in club rugby in Belfast on Sunday (kick-off 3pm) rather than Test rugby in Paris on Saturday.

The summer signing from Leicester will leave the Wales bubble tomorrow and link up with his Dragons teammates in Ystrad Mynach ahead of this weekend’s Guinness PRO14 fixture at Kingspan Stadium.

After swapping Welford Road for Rodney Parade, Holmes made his debut in the European Challenge Cup quarter-final defeat to Bristol and kept his place in the right wing for the PRO14 opener at Leinster and win against Zebre in Newport.

However, he will wear 15 on his back against Ulster when the Dragons take the opportunity to give a breather to Jordan Williams, who has only recently returned from ruptured knee ligaments.

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"It's great news," said Ryan. "Jonah has not played a huge amount of rugby over the last six months and we want to keep him playing so that he can get more games in a Welsh shirt.

"Jonah has looked pretty sharp but we probably haven't got him on the ball as much as we would have liked.

"We are potentially looking at him at 15 and that's another string to his bow because he runs great lines.

"We have just got to find more opportunities to get him on the ball because he has been very effective when we have been able to achieve that.”

Williams came straight back into the XV for the Bristol clash, his first game since the serious knee injury suffered against Enisei-STM last November, and then scored two tries against Zebre last time out.

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"Jordan had a significant injury and I am just concerned about being overly reliant on him in those first early steps back,” said Ryan.

“He was outstanding against Zebre, some of his impacts were huge, but we have just got to be careful.

“We are all desperate for him to play but we are setting ourselves up to fail if we think he is going to be okay after such a long injury.

“I am keen to ensure we have got some other options back there. For the first time we really have some options in the back three.”

The Dragons are without five players because of Wales duty after call-ups for centre Nick Tompkins, back row forwards Aaron Wainwright and Ross Moriarty, tighthead Leon Brown and hooker Elliot Dee.

Dee was initially a surprise omission from the squad but was handed a swift recall after Ken Owens suffered an injury that could also rule him out of the 2021 Six Nations.

“Elliot has spent a long time in squads without getting a huge amount of game time,” said Ryan. “I still think that he's a player that needs more games, experiences and challenges to keep getting better.

“When not initially named in the Wales squad he saw it as an opportunity to get minutes under his belt.

“Look at his last three or four years and it's a mix of moving between Wales camps, where he has been getting minutes at the end of games, and coming back into the Dragons environment.

“We have to remember how difficult that is, especially for a player trying to find continuity in his game.

“He is delighted to be back in but we are both keen for him to get more games and keep developing.

"I was very happy with how he faced up to the challenge of his original non-selection, so let's hope he gets some games."

Fly-half Josh Lewis is going through the return to play protocols after being forced off in the opening stages of the friendly against the Scarlets last Friday after a blow to the head when tackling Tom Prydie.

Influential back row forward Ollie Griffiths could make his first appearance since lockdown after returning from a hamstring injury.

“Ollie is looking great, so there is a real possibility of seeing him on the field very soon,” said Ryan.