NEWPORT Gwent Dragons won’t risk livewire wing Ashton Hewitt in Friday’s crunch European clash with Enisei-STM on Friday – but Adam Hughes is set for his return to the fray.

Wales hopeful Hewitt missed last weekend’s 26-8 Guinness PRO12 win against Treviso after suffering a minor knee injury against the Ospreys on New Year’s Day.

The 22-year-old from Newport will sit out the European Rugby Challenge Cup encounter with the Russians at Rodney Parade (kick-off 7.30pm) but should be fine for the potentially winner-takes-all fixture at Brive.

Hughes has not featured this season since suffering a head injury in the pre-season fixture against Cardiff Blues at Rodney Parade in August.

The 26-year-old wing/centre returned to training recently and, as long as he comes through this week, will feature in the matchday squad against the Russians.

Hughes is another option in midfield with Tyler Morgan, Adam Warren, Sam Beard and Jack Dixon while Pat Howard and Tom Prydie are the specialist options out wide at the moment with Wales wing Hallam Amos targeting a mid-February return from the shoulder injury he suffered attempting to score against Australia in November.

“Adam has been training and has looked razor sharp,” said back coach Shaun Connor. “It’s like a new signing for us. He has been electric in training and we are looking forward to getting him back on the pitch.

“He has been a great signing for us (since returning from Bristol and Exeter) and a couple of years away has really helped him grow as a person. He is an excellent influence on our younger players.”

Hughes will hope to feature prominently when he gets on the field given that the Dragons need five points in order to ensure they head to Brive with their destiny in their own hands.

The French side currently enjoy a five-point advantage at the head of Pool Three and on Saturday host a Worcester side more concerned with retaining their Aviva Premiership status.

“It’s all about getting the result and we need a bonus point win to set us up for Brive,” said Connor. “Then depending on the Brive-Worcester result we will know what we need to do when we get there.”

While five points is needed, the management will stress the importance of not going gung-ho against a Russian side that thumped them 38-18 in Krasnodar in October.

Connor said: “If you put that pressure on from the start then you tend to chase the game, a lot of games are won in the last 20 minutes and Enisei will be tough because they beat us out there.

“If you highlight it too much then you go out and chase the game. That’s when you tend to make a few errors so it’s about sticking to our processes to make sure we are in the right areas to be able to score those points and tries.

“If we are in a good position after 40 or 50 minutes then we can start looking towards that bonus point.”

The Dragons scored four tries in the final quarter to get their campaign off to a flying start when beating Brive 37-16 in October.