Connacht have made three changes to the team that beat Benetton Treviso last week for tonight’s trip to Newport.

Boosted by the extension to scrumhalf Kieran Marmion’s contract, the team welcomes back captain Gavin Duffy on the wing.

Duffy, who was injured for three weeks, made an appearance against Treviso and touched down for a try after just a minute on the pitch.

Up front, lock Mick Kearney replaces Mike McCarthy, who remains on international duty this week. Kearney is joined in the secondrow by Michael Swift.

Dragons have not overcome an Irish province since beating Ulster 22-9 at Rodney Parade in September last year, while a win for Eric Elwood’s side would give them back-to-back PRO12 victories for the first time since April.

The encouraging thing for Irish hopes is Connacht’s only away wins this year in all competitions have come at Zebre (twice) and the Dragons at Rodney Parade in March, while they achieved the season’s double over the men from Gwent last season.

Connacht are eighth in the table on 14 points, with Newport in 11th on nine points.

NEWPORT: T Prydie; W Harries, P Leach, A Smith, T Chavhanga; D Evans, W Evans; P Price, H Gustafson, D Way, A Jones, R Sidoli, L Evans (capt), N Cudd, T Brown. Replacements: S Jones, O Evans, N Buck, I Nimmo, I Jones, J Evans, Lewis Robling, J Dixon.

CONNACHT: R Henshaw; T O’Halloran, D Poolman, D McSharry, G Duffy (capt); D Parks, K Marmion; D Buckley, J Harris-Wright, N White, M Swift, M Kearney, A Browne, W Faloon, E McKeon. Replacements: E Reynecke, R Ah You, R Loughney, D Gannon, J O’Connor, D Moore, M Nikora, M Healy Referee: Giuseppe Vivarini (FIR) Verdict: Dragons