Latu makes first Dragons start at strong Edinburgh

Paula Latu has five international caps having made his Tonga debut in 2023

United Rugby Championship: Edinburgh v Dragons

Venue: Hive Stadium, Edinburgh Date: Friday, 28 March Kick off: 19:35 GMT

Coverage: Watch Scrum V Live on BBC Two Wales, iPlayer and BBC Sport website & app; live text on the BBC Sport website & app; highlights on the BBC Sport website & app

Tonga international Paula Latu will make his first Dragons start at Edinburgh in the United Rugby Championship (URC) on Friday.

Latu, 29, replaces tight-head prop Chris Coleman who was forced off in last week's game against Ulster with a head inury, head coach Filo Tiatia making four changes to his starting XV from the 34-30 loss at Rodney Parade.

Matthew Screech also failed a head injury assesement while fellow lock George Nott picked up a knee problem, so Steve Cummins and Joe Davies come into the second row.

Rodrigo Martinez returns at loose-head prop, having been a late withdrawal against Ulster because of a leg injury.

Edinburgh are boosted by the return of Scotland Six Nations players Jamie Ritchie, Duhan van der Merwe, Darcy Graham, Pierre Schoeman and Grant Gilchrist along with Dave Cherry on the bench.

Latu has made seven appearances off the bench since signing on a short-term deal in December when injury forced Wales tight-head Leon Brown to retire.

Primarily a loose-head, the former Southland Stags prop has scored one try for Dragons against Lions in the European Challenge Cup.

On the Dragons' replacements' bench, wing Jared Rosser is in line to play his 100th game for the region, while fly-half Josh Thomas could make his debut.

Dragons will be looking to end a 12-game losing streak in URC. Bottom of the table, they have not won since beating Ospreys on the opening day of the season.

Since Tiatia took charge at the end of November, Dragons have lost 10 of 11 matches in all competitions, with a sole victory at Newcastle in the European Challenge Cup in December.

Edinburgh go into the weekend in 11th place, two points outside the top eight.

Their only win in the last four rounds of the URC was at Munster in February, while a six-game home winning run in all tournaments was ended in the previous game by Zebre.

Edinburgh have won all seven games played against Welsh regions at Hive Stadium and have lost just one of their last six fixtures against Dragons - behind closed doors at Principality Stadium in 2021.

The Dragons have not beaten Edinburgh in Scotland since March 2012.

"Edinburgh are a good team," said Dragons head coach Tiatia.

"At home they play fast and like to play up tempo with a good set piece. It's going to be a heck of a challenge in Scotland.

"We need to start well and keep building around how we apply pressure from minute one.

"We showed that against Ulster, where we managed to do that with our pressure plan to get the ball back from kick-off."

Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt said: "Dragons are a dangerous side, they win a lot of turnovers and can be really efficient and hurt you in the 22. They gave Ulster a hard time on Saturday, so it's not a team we can take lightly.

"Every game in the URC has been tight in the last couple of months, so we have to focus on ourselves and make sure we can execute as accurately as we can."

Edinburgh: Wes Goosen; Darcy Graham, Matt Currie, James Lang, Duhan van der Merwe; Ross Thompson, Ben Vellacott (co-capt); Pierre Schoeman, Paddy Harrison, D'arcy Rae, Marshall Sykes, Grant Gilchrist (co-capt), Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson, Magnus Bradbury.

Replacements: Dave Cherry, Boan Venter, Javan Sebastian, Glen Young, Freddy Douglas, Ali Price, Cammy Scott, Ross McCann.

Dragons: Huw Anderson; Rio Dyer, Joe Westwood, Aneurin Owen (capt), Ashton Hewitt; Will Reed, Rhodri Williams; Rodrigo Martinez, Elliot Dee, Paula Latu, Joe Davies, Steve Cummins, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Harrison Keddie, Aaron Wainwright.

Replacements: Brodie Coghlan, Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths, Nathan Evans, Barny Langton-Cryer, Taine Basham, Dane Blacker, Josh Thomas, Jared Rosser.

Referee: Morne Ferreira (SARU)

Assistant referees: Jonny Perriam & Rob McDowell (SRU)

TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU)