Ex-Wallaby Koroibete debuts for Ospreys at Dragons

Dragons are one of six unbeaten teams in the URC after drawing at Benetton and beating Scarlets.Tiatia opts to make three changes with starts for centre Fetuli Paea, scrum-half Che Hope and open-side flanker Harry Beddall.Co-captain Angus O'Brien is back from a leg injury to cover fly-half and full-back from the bench but flanker or lock Ryan Woodman is ruled out.The Wales hopeful, who featured in the uncapped win against Barbarians last summer, has suffered a bicep injury that is being assessed amid fears of a lengthy lay-off.Rodney Parade form is vital for Dragons if they are to succeed with an ambitious target of being in the mix for the play-offs this season."It's not rocket science, if you win your home games you climb," said Tiatia, whose side finished 15th in 2025-26 after costly draws."It's the energy that Rodney Parade gives these young guys. The exuberance to keep going, the belief, the fight."Home games are always important and it's about how you take the opportunities and create them."If you take opportunities, you then turn the close draws from last season into wins."Ospreys are braced for a physical challenge and select an imposing back row of Liam Wright, Ross Moriarty and Morgan Morris, with Morgan Morse to come off the bench.Keiran Williams and Evardi Boshoff continue in midfield with former Australia centre Lalakai Foketi, another high-profile summer signing, among the replacements.While Tiatia has benefited from a steady summer at Dragons, Ospreys boss Jones admits that he is still working out his best combinations after his side claimed one bonus point from two games in South Africa."At certain times of the year we are going to pick consistently and guys are going to work out who's number one in their position, who's number two," said the former Wales wing."We're going to need to win games and we're going to pick our best team as often as we can, but we've got to work out who it is first. I'm probably not 100% sure in some positions."Ospreys are counting down to their return to Swansea and a revamped St Helen's - which is set to host the return fixture with Dragons on Saturday, 24 October.First they must cope with the raucous atmosphere under Friday night lights at Rodney Parade, where they have not won since September 2021."We had a draw there last year and previous to that we've had some narrow losses. It's always been a tough hunting ground," admitted Jones."You can paraphrase Morgan Morris on this, he says he is preparing to be abused for 80 minutes."Dragons: Anderson; Dyer, Paea, Owen, Tuitavuki; de Beer, Hope; Martinez, Dee, Hunt, S Davies, Carter (capt), Lewis-Hughes, Beddall, Keddie.Replacements: Coghlan, R Jones, Coleman, Langton-Cryer, Young, R Williams, O'Brien, Inisi.Ospreys: Rogers; Koroibete, Boshoff, K Williams, Giles; Edwards, Hardy; G Thomas, Parry (capt), Botha, R Davies, Smith, Wright, Moriarty, Morris.Replacements: Daniel, Thomas, Henry, L Jones, Morse, Morgan-Williams, Creighton, Foketi.Referee: Robbie Jenkinson (Ireland)Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse (Wales), Amber Stamp-Dunstan (Wales)TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)