AFTER being sidelined for most of 2015/16 with a career-threatening injury, Newport Gwent Dragons centre Jack Dixon has endured a different sort of frustration this season.

The 22-year-old from Newbridge is set to start in the Guinness PRO12 clash in Edinburgh on Friday (kick-off 7.35pm) and while it will be a 17th appearance, it has been a stop-start campaign.

He has not started since the Rodney Parade drubbing at the hands of Leinster in February and has played in just five games since the turn of the year.

Dixon has been the victim of his fellow promising prospect Tyler Morgan's return to form and Sam Beard enjoying a fine first season in Wales, but the experiences of last year provide some balance to that frustration.

On his return from Wales' World Cup training squad, uncapped Dixon suffered a grade four kidney tear after an innocuous blow in a pre-season friendly against the Scarlets.

He was warned by medics that it could end his career; a nightmare that puts this year's irritation into context.

"It's been a frustrating season but the positive is that I haven't been injured," said Dixon, who made three appearances at the end of last term.

"I haven't played as much as I'd like with Sam and Tyler playing well, I've had to bide my time and whenever I get the chance to play I'll put 100 per cent in.

"I'm pleased to have a full year of training and playing when fully fit, that's a positive, but the other boys have been playing well.

"I had a season out last year and I have found it hard to get back into the swing of things. I'd have loved a bit more game time but it hasn't worked out like that and I just have to dig in for the last two weeks and go again next season."

Dixon gets a start this weekend while Morgan nurses sore ribs after suffering a blow in the 21-16 loss to the Scarlets at Principality Stadium a fortnight ago.

The Dragons have not won since beating Enisei-STM on January 16 but have taken heart from pushing their title-chasing rivals from west Wales hard.

They now have the opportunity to leapfrog ninth-placed Edinburgh before their final game of the season against Cardiff Blues in Caerphilly.

"It's the last two weeks and we feel that we can really target these games. We are confident going into them," said Dixon, the only player to have played in all five Judgement Days.

"We are not satisfied with how things have gone but if we can get a fifth and sixth win then it's an improvement on last year [when the Dragons won four PRO12 fixtures].

"We are going to go all guns blazing for these games and have nothing to lose. If we can finish in ninth then, while it's not where we want to be, it's better than last season."

"We have reviewed Judgement Day and can take a lot of positives from a big performance and are hoping to take that form into this weekend," he continued.

"We've questioned ourselves because we need to put that performance in every week. Maybe it was the big stage, maybe it was the fear of having 50 points put on us in front of 60,000.

"I don't know what it was but we were happy with how we played and were disappointed we didn't come away with the win."

The Dragons name their team at midday tomorrow and are set to make two enforced changes to the three-quarters with Dixon replacing Morgan while wing Pat Howard is leading candidate to come in for Adam Warren, who has undergone surgery on a toe injury suffered at Principality Stadium.

Promising prospect Owain Leonard, 19, is set for a debut off the bench as cover for Charlie Davies, who is the Dragons sole fit senior scrum-half in the absence of Sarel Pretorius (hamstring) and Tavis Knoyle (wrist).