Dragons target Top Treble

A 25-20 victory at Glasgow Warriors was followed by a 26-16 home triumph over Ulster Rugby, lifting the Dragons to seventh in the Magners League table ahead of the visit of Heineken Cup champions Munster and back-to-back Irish challenges.

And Welsh international prop Rhys Thomas, today named in the Wales starting line-up for Saturday week's RBS 6 Nations match against Italy in Rome, is part of a 24-man squad named for match against the Irish province.

Dragons Head Coach Paul Turner said
"Getting Rhys back is great news for us. Adam Black is out with a neck injury and Rhys is integral to our forwards work which was so important in our win against Ulster last week."

Lock Luke Charteris, also named to start in Rome, is not in the Dragons squad as he has been retained by Wales for this weekend.

Turner is hoping that players will take up the opportunity this match offers.
"Although Munster are without a lot of players through international duty, that is tempered somewhat by our injury list, he said. We've lost both our wings in Fussell and Wyatt as well as Charvis, Stcherbina and Gomer Davies who are all quality players. However, this game is going to offer a chance for some of our players to prove themselves in a top-level game and I'm sure they will be keen to seize the opportunity with both hands.

"You don't forget experiences like our loss to Munster in Thormond Park earlier in the season in a hurry. But we came back to beat Ulster so coming into this return match off the back of another win against Ulster, we are looking to lay that match to rest. Having said that, the Munster side is pretty much the one which gave the All Blacks a run for their money back in November, so there is no doubt that this is going to be a tough match."

Newport Gwent Dragons squad for Munster:

Andrew Hall
Arron Coundley
Ashley Smith
Danny Lydiate
David Patterson
Gethin Robinson
Grant Webb
James Arlidge
Jason Tovey
Joe Bearman
Kevin Morgan
Lewis Evans
Martytn Thomas
Nigel Hall
Phillip Dollman
Rhys Thomas
Richard Parks
Rob Lewis
Rory Sidey
Sean Tomes
Shaun Connor
Steve Jones
Tom Willis
Wayne Evans

Players not selected through injury:

James Harris (Knee)
Marc Stcherbina (Neck)
Colin Charvis (Knee)
Gareth Wyatt (Shoulder)
Rhodri Gomer Davies (Ankle)
Richard Fussell (Groin)
Adam Black (Neck)
Adam Jones (Shoulder)