Dragons v Connacht: Teams
Connacht travel to Rodney Parade on Sunday with little more than pride to play for.
Last Updated: 24/04/09 5:24pm
Bottom of the table Connacht travel to Rodney Parade on Sunday with little more than pride to fight for against Newport Gwent Dragons.
Connacht have made three changes and one positional switch with Ray Ofisa returning from injury and Keith Matthews starting at number eight and inside centre respectively.
Brian McGovern is in at tighthead prop while Michael Swift comes in to partner Andrew Farley in the second row.
Andrew Browne reverts from lock to blindside flanker and Gavin Duffy captains the side in the absence of John Muldoon for the match in Wales.
Determined
Dragons head coach Paul Turner has named a 26-man squad for Sunday's match, with Adam Black and Rhodri Gomer Davies both making a return from injury.
Turner is hoping to make full use of the confidence gained from last week's demolition of a weakened Worcester Warriors side at Sixways, during the vital clash between the bottom two Magners League clubs.
"We are fortunate to have a fairly clean bill of health at this stage of the season and will be looking to put our strongest side out against Connacht on Sunday," he told the Dragons website.
"After the encouraging friendly against Worcester last week and the return of key players in Adam Black and Rhodri Gomer Davies we are feeling confident going into this game that we can answer the questions being asked of us by our supporters.
"There were some very strong individual performances last week at Sixways which has given a vital confidence boost to the squad.
"This weekend's game is not going to be easy, but the players are determined that a line be drawn under the loss in Galway and we work to finish the season on a high."
Dragons: Aled Brew, Wayne Evans, Richard Fussell, Ashley Smith, Shaun Connor, Jason Tovey, James Arlidge, Kevin Morgan, Alex Walker, Martyn Thomas, Rhodri Gomer Davies, Gareth Wyatt, Tom Willis, Adam Jones, Jamie Ringer, Richard Parks, Hoani Macdonald, Joe Bearman, Rhys Thomas, Danny Lydiate, Lewis Evans, Luke Charteris, Nigel Hall, Steve Jones, Adam Black, Andrew Hall
Connacht: 15 Duffy (c), 14 Carr, 13 Ta'auso, 12 Matthews, 11 Bibo; 10 Keatley, 9 Murphy, 8 Ofisa, 7 O'Connor, 6 Browne, 5 Farley, 4 Swift, 3 McGovern, 2 Cronin, 1 Wilkinson.
Replacements: 16 Flavin, 17 Loughney, 18 Gannon, 19 Rigney, 20 O'Loughlin, 21 Dunne, 22 Nathan.