Dixon returns as Dragons prepare for Edinburgh power

Director of rugby Dean Ryan makes a solitary change to the XV that lost 50-15 to Leinster, when they were hit by a second half onslaught by the Guinness PRO14 champions.

Dixon returns at inside centre in place of Connor Edwards, who made his first senior outing in 18 months at the Royal Dublin Society. The bench is unchanged.

Former Bristol, Gloucester and Worcester boss Ryan will be going up against a familiar rival from his time in the English Premiership and expects to face similar tactics to those he used to face in Leicester.

“Edinburgh are a good side. I know Richard Cockerill well and he has done a great job coming into the PRO14 and bringing some of his experiences,” said Ryan.

“They are a powerful, well-organised, good field position side. Edinburgh were contenders in the Champions Cup last year and are starting to make a mark in the PRO14. It will be a challenge for us but we are in a good space.

“Friday will be a test of us physically because having spent years coaching against Richard I know that Edinburgh will come with a power and field-position game and will wait for us to do something silly. We’ve got to work hard to be robust enough to stand up to that.”

Ryan makes no changes up front after being pleased with what he saw against Leinster, when the Dragons trailed just 12-8 approaching half-time only to be torn open by six tries and 38 unanswered points.

“We’ve been working for three or four weeks on a smaller number of things that we want to get better at and we are starting to see progress,” said Ryan.

“Leon (Brown) is making big strides and our scrum has become more robust while our drive is coming along.

“We have gone from Munster (on opening weekend), where we couldn’t score if we sat on the five-metre line all day, to being desperate for a five-metre lineout because we have seen images of the drive getting better.

“Our collision work and physicality has improved. The elements are there but we will just keep working on them. We’ve got to learn, turnaround, play, test. Learn, turnaround and go again.

“I was really proud of the forward pack and the effort they put in. There were some really powerful parts of their game in the collisions, scrum and driving lineout, but that was undone by moments of madness.”

Edinburgh have won their two Murrayfield games comfortably, beating Zebre 50-15 and the Scarlets 46-7.

They return to home soil after being edged out by Benetton in Treviso last time out and Cockerill is boosted by several Scotland internationals after their brief World Cup.

Flanker John Barclay and lock Ben Toolis start while prop Simon Berghan, lock Grant Gilchrist and back row forward Jamie Ritchie are on the bench.

Edinburgh won at Cardiff Blues to go along with their home successes and Cockerill wants a maximum haul.

“With five points, we would be starting to get ourselves into the play-off mix, if not cemented in the mix," he said.

Edinburgh: B Kinghorn; E Sau, M Bennett, M Scott, D van der Merwe; S Hickey, H Pyrgos (captain); P Schoeman, M Willemse, P Ceccarelli, L Carmichael, B Toolis, J Barclay, L Crosbie, M Bradbury. Replacements: C Fenton, R Sutherland, S Berghan, G Gilchrist, J Richie, C Shiel, J van der Walt, G Taylor.

Dragons: J Williams; O Jenkins, A Warren, J Dixon, A Hewitt; S Davies, R Williams (captain); B Harris, R Hibbard, L Brown, J Davies, M Screech, H Taylor, T Basham, H Keddie. Replacements: E Shipp, J Reynolds, L Fairbrother, M Williams, J Benjamin, L Baldwin, A Robson, T Morgan.

Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)