The Welsh side have won just two of their last seven games at Rodney Parade in the GUINNESS PRO12 and their only victory in their last five PRO12 matches came against Leinster in round 14.

And with Ulster on a four-game winning streak and sitting third in the table Jones admits the Dragons will have to be on top form to stop them.

"There's a statement flying around that Rodney Parade is a really tough place to come and play, well it is for us," Jones told the South Wales Argus.

"The away teams are more comfortable and I don't know why we seem to do better away from home. Our statistics, such as metres run, are much better away and I just cannot put my finger on why and it's concerning.

"We beat Ulster at home without a scrum but we have one this year so we just need to believe and as long as we hunt and harass we can achieve what we want."

"Ulster are a power team with a good maul and scrum. They have all the fundamentals right to be successful."

The Dragons welcome back lock Andrew Coombs from injury as he joins Cory Hill in the second-row, while the front row consists of Boris Stankovich, Brok Harris and Captain T. Rhys Thomas and the back row sees James Benjamin joining James Thomas and Nick Crosswell.

Tom Prydie and Hallam Amos start on the wings with Geraint Rhys Jones at fullback while Jack Dixon and Ashley Smith start at centre with Dorian Jones and Jonathan Evans at half-back.

The Welsh side have named Phil Price, Scott Matthews, Carl Meyer, Rhys Buckley Lloyd Fairbrother, Matthew Screech, Luc Jones and Ashton Hewitt as replacements.

Meanwhile centre Darren Cave will captain Ulster on his 155th appearance for the province starting alongside Mike Stanley.

Ruan Pienaar starts at scrum-half with Ian Humphreys at fly-half whilst Craig Gilroy, Louis Ludik and Michael Allen make up the back three.

The front row will start as Callum Black, Rob Herring and Wiehahn Herbst while Dan Tuohy will partner Franco van der Merwe in the second row.

In the back-row, Ian Henderson is joined by Nick Williams and Clive Ross while the Ulster bench is made up of Robbie Diack, John Andrew, Andrew Warwick, Bronson Ross, Lewis Stevenson, Paul Marshall, Sam Arnold and Rory Scholes.

Ahead of his first Ulster start Stanley will be hoping to make a big impression in a bid to earn himself more game time in the future after featuring for the first time as a replacement last time out against Scarlets.

"It was amazing being out there and it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up to play out there in front of packed home crowd," Stanley told the Belfast Telegraph.

"I haven't played in a while now and those ten minutes or so on last Friday night was my first game-time since the end of November.

"It's been a crash course in all areas but these are the things you have to do when you're in on a short-term deal. It is what it is."

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At Rodney Parade, 4pm. Live on S4C and BBC Northern Ireland
Referee: Dudley Phillips (IRFU, 48th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Ben Whitehouse, Martyn Lewis (both WRU)
Citing Commissioner: Gwyn Bowden (WRU)
TMO: Derek Bevan (WRU)