On-loan Ioan Davies to play for Dragons deal in Rainbow Cup

The Wales Under-20s international joined on loan from Cardiff Blues in February but did not feature in the Guinness PRO14 run-in.

However, the 21-year-old is set to get opportunities in the Rainbow Cup, the competition that gets under way against the Scarlets at Rodney Parade on Sunday, April 25.

Jordan Williams has started the last three games on the spin for the Dragons after the loss of Josh Lewis to an ankle injury but Davies, who is out of contract this summer, will be given a chance to showcase his talents in the coming months.

OPPORTUNITY: Ioan Davies is on loan at the Dragons

"We don't throw anybody in, when they come in it is off the back of really organised training and Ioan has been great," said director of rugby Dean Ryan.

"At some stage we want to look at him in this environment, and at some stage we have to get some other guys out on the pitch. We will try and do it with a mix.

"There are four or five people that we would like to get into the environment, but we would still like the environment to be stable.

"It would be wrong for us to make it a development competition because it would create instability but I definitely don't want to get to the end of the Rainbow Cup and have not seen five or six guys.

"That will be our challenge, where we finish in the competition is secondary because I want to see Ioan Davies and Rio Dyer play, I want to see Aneurin Owen and Ben Carter continue, I want to see Josh Reynolds start.

"Those are the sort of things that we want from this tournament but we want that to happen with stability."

CHANCE: Rio Dyer

Dyer, who scored against Ulster at Principality Stadium, is in pole position to slot in on the left wing after Ashton Hewitt ruptured knee ligaments.

The fixture dates for the first three rounds of the Rainbow Cup have been confirmed but doubts remain about the involvement of the four South African teams in the tournament.

The Dragons kick off against the Scarlets on Sunday, April 25 and then head to Cardiff on Sunday, May 9 before hosting the Ospreys on Sunday, May 16 (all kick-offs 1pm).

There are no clashes with Newport County AFC, even if the Exiles make the play-offs with the dates for those encounters being Thursday, May 20 and Sunday, May 23.

Eduard Coetzee of the Sharks said that the competition could be hit by the South Africans being unable to travel to the UK but the PRO14 are hopeful of soon revealing cross-country fixtures.

"Confirmation for rounds four to six will follow once PRO14 Rugby has received all necessary approvals and permissions from the relevant governments and health authorities for the South African teams to travel," read a statement.