Newport Gwent Dragons director of rugby Lyn Jones insists his side’s RaboDirect PRO12 opener against Ulster is a great litmus test of their new ambitions.

The Dragons ended up 11th in last year’s league table while the Irish region made it through to the play-off finals after topping the regular season pile.

But after a summer of change at the Dragons that has seen Jones come on board, the former London Welsh supremo cannot wait to see how far his side have come.

"To be the best you've got to play against the best,” he said.

“We can't measure ourselves against the lower end of the league, we want to compete and be at the top.

“To do that we need to perform and learn from playing the best.”

Welsh International and Dragons skipper Andrew Coombs will lead the regional side that shows a number of new faces in the starting line up with Richie Rees, T. Rhys Thomas and Matthew Screech taking their places in the team.

Hallam Amos also moves from fullback into wing as Tom Prydie takes on the other wing. The centre pairing remains similar to last season’s as Jack Dixon and Pat Leach are paired together.

The Dragons beat Zebre in round one of the RaboDirect PRO12 last season – the only time they have begun a new campaign with maximum points.

But the Dragons only won five more games in the entire campaign while Ulster have only lost once in their ten meetings with Welsh regions.

For Mark Anscombe’s troops the selection of Paddy Jackson at fly-half is the only change to the backline that began last weekend's pre-season friendly against Leicester Tigers.

Jared Payne starts at full-back, with Andrew Trimble and David McIlwaine on the wings. Chris Farrell and Luke Marshall are selected in the centre with Paul Marshall named at scrum-half.

Callum Black and Ricky Lutton start in the front row, either side of Rob Herring who is picked at hooker. Captain Johann Muller and Dan Tuohy are paired in the second row with Robbie Diack, Chris Henry and Roger Wilson making up the back-row.

"Last year we maybe talked too much about silverware. This season, I think, we've got to be a bit more pragmatic about what we need to achieve," Anscombe told the Belfast Telegraph.

"Because we did well – and have done well over the past couple of years – expectations rise. That's life and you've got to take that and accept what the responsibility is.

"But you're not going to maintain consistency and be a top performer if you look at short fixes. You've got to be looking at the bigger picture of development, building the depth of your squad and their knowledge and managing expectations within the group.”

At Rodney Parade, 7.15pm. Available via the red button on BBC NI
Referee: Claudio Blessano (FIR, 3rd competition game)
Assistant Referees: Leighton Hodges, Neil Hennessy (both WRU)
Citing Commissioner: Ray Wilton (WRU)