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Ryan ready to call on World Cup stars

02/12/2019

Boss Dean Ryan is ready to call on several of his World Cup stars for the double header with English side Worcester Warriors.

Elliot Dee, Ross Moriarty and Aaron Wainwright are yet to feature for Dragons this season after being away with Wales at the Rugby World Cup in Japan.

All three – plus Sam Davies, Ashton Hewitt, Ollie Griffiths and Leon Brown who were on international duty last weekend – could push for a place in the side that travels to Sixways on Saturday for European Challenge Cup action (kick-off 3pm).

However, Ryan will not rush lock Cory Hill back into action with his return to play date still undecided.

"Cory probably won't be back this week. Possibly the week after but I don't want that to be a target, we will just see how he is," said former Worcester boss Ryan.

"The next two weeks will be about getting some of the guys back to where we need to be going into the festive derbies.

"It will be tough because we've not seen them – most internationals go back to systems they know at their club, but we've got several guys that haven't been part of pre-season.

"We've got to work out over the next two weeks how we get them back into things in the right way."

Ryan will be looking for a response from his Dragons - after the defeat to Zebre at Rodney Parade - and admits the manner of that home loss only highlighted the work that needs to be done at the region.

"It was a tough physically, but it just highlights what we have got to do, and we are not solving that in a short amount of time," he said.

"It's something we've got to do over the long-term. Regional rugby is a Welsh development growth model, it's not open recruitment where we go out and get 10 or 11 players.

"To get eight players in the Wales squad was great for us and what we have got to do is get more players up to speed.

"That's not happening over a short time and is certainly not happening through recruitment, so we've got to support them and keep working with them."

Dragons are next in home action on Friday, December 13 when we welcome Worcester Warriors to Rodney Parade in the European Challenge Cup. Tickets are on sale NOW - click HERE to buy and take advantage of Early Bird rates.

The next two weeks will be about getting some of the guys back to where we need to be going into the festive derbies...
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