“We know what is coming”- Dragons head coach Filo Tiatia previews Sharks encounter

Filo Tiatia’s men encounter a wounded Sharks team, where the goal is to break the 18-game drought of losses in the Uniter Rugby Championship (URC) tomorrow evening at Rodney Parade (kick-off 20:05).

Standout from last Friday, Tinus de Beer makes his first competitive start at Rodney Parade, with Brodie Coghlan starting his first game of the season.

Try-scorer Shane Lewis-Hughes moves from blindside to openside as Ryan Woodman comes into the starting XV.

Tiatia has made four changes to his starting XV after last week’s opening round defeat, with all three injured in the opening round not available.

“Elliot, he’s recovering, he’s getting some scans, and hopefully we will know where he’s at, so not too long and hopefully we can get more information,” began Tiatia speaking at Rodney Parade on Wednesday afternoon.

“He’s one of our leading players, you know, an international player, and he’s important for the squad. We’ll see the results, and hopefully he recovers really quickly.

“He’s (Westwood) going through his 12-day standown period. He’s still got some symptoms. (Jared) took a knock, again assess and see the extent (of the injury) and we’ll see how long that’ll be.”

The Rodney Parade club began their new season rather splendidly, with Aaron Wainwright crossing seconds into the contest, which was followed by Rosser scoring after a kick in behind from Angus O’Brien.

As proceedings continued at Affidea Stadium, the momentum seemed to shift, and the visitors struggled with the constant pressure from the home side, particularly as they did not kick for significant periods.

“We were disappointed with the result. There were moments where we scored those two tries, a forward pass, and Wyn Jones on the line. They were critical moments.

“We were in the game, but we just need to be more clinical on penalties, how we gave Ulster opportunities to get inside our 22 and they managed to score points when it was presented to them.”

Summer signing Fetuli Paea wears the Dragons jersey for the very first time tomorrow evening, accompanying Aneurin Owen as the centre pairing. The former Zebre Parma player starts after helping Tonga qualify for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia in the Pacific Nations Cup.

“He (Fetuli) brings experience, the other part is he’s a big man who can carry, has good footwork, and vision is very good,” said Tiatia.

“The challenge for Fetuli is the connection with players; there’s a lot of players who he hasn’t played with before, but our players who have been here have made an effort to make sure he understands his role and the language that we are using.

“Over the last five or six weeks, he has been with Tonga, so we need to make sure he travels light and is really clear on his role for the weekend.”

“He’s a good player, that’s why we recruited him, and he brings a difference to what we already have.”

Tomorrow evening’s visitors come into the contest off the back of a 35-19 defeat against Glasgow Warriors, and are without their contingent of South Africa internationals who are on duty at Twickenham on Saturday against Argentina.

Jean Smith partners Jaden Hendrikse who made headlines in last season’s URC quarter-finals against Munster when he went down with cramp after taking his second shot in a penalty shootout in Durban.

Head coach John Plumtree makes no changes to his forward pack, whilst Lukhanyo Am wears the 12 jersey with PK Sobahle selected on the wing.

“Sharks will also be disappointed. They went to Glasgow and played a good side, but I know Plums (Plumtree) well and they will be very physical when they come here.

“We are pretty clear about what the Sharks will bring with their big pack.

“They are very physical, will try to dominate space when they see it and have a very good offload game on the edges.

“We know what is coming,” concluded Tiatia.