Newport face the toughest test of their season so far as they come up against the fully professional and unbeaten Newcastle Falcons who are currently running away with the English Championship.
Interestingly, the same thing happened a few seasons ago when the unbeaten Exeter Chiefs came to Rodney Parade and went away second best.
Newport welcome back popular centre Adam Davies who has been out injured since the beginning of September but injuries and the fact that outstanding 17 year old prop Alex Jeffries is not allowed to play due to his age means a number of changes for the home side.
Even without Jeffries, Newport still field 4 youngsters. Ollie Griffiths and 18 year olds Lance Randall, Dominic Franchi and Ashton Hewitt are all involved while tight-head prop Dan Mathews, who recently signed from Pontypool, makes his debut.
For the Falcons, Jamie Helleur captains the side as Dean Richards makes seven changes from the side that defeated Plymouth Albion last week.
Tonga international Suka Hufanga partners Helleur at outside centre while Joel Hodgson and Rory Lawson form an exciting half-back combination.
In the front-row Scott Wilson gets the nod a week after making his league debut, with James Goode, Richard Mayhew and Taiasina Tu’ifua also coming into the pack.
James Hudson gets a place on the bench after recovering from a hand injury while James Fitzpatrick is also amongst the replacements.
“We are expecting a tough battle against Newport,” said Falcons boss Richards, who has led his charges to 13 wins out of 13 this campaign.
“Every Welsh side are well organised and hard to beat, but we have a good squad here at Kingston Park and I am looking forward to the test.
“It will be a difficult game for us and they will take us on upfront. The Welsh always have half-backs that will test you, so it will certainly be a hard game down there,” added Richards.
Newport: J Leadbeater, E Frewen, G O’Driscoll, A Davies, A Hewitt, S Sneddon, R Downes, D Pattison , R Prosser, D Mathews, D Rosser, A Frampton, B Lampitt, C Attwell (c), C Everett.
Reps : A Brown, J Jeune, L Randall, O Griffiths, D Franchi, T Hancock, A Quick.
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Jimmy Gopperth, 14 Luke Fielden, 13 Suka Hufanga, 12 Jamie Helleur (c), 11 Andy Higgins, 10 Joel Hodgson, 9 Rory Lawson, 1 Grant Shiells, 2 Michael Mayhew, 3 Scott Wilson, 4 Sean Tomes, 5 James Goode, 6 Chris York, 7 Richard Mayhew, 8 Taiasina Tu’ifua.
Replacements: 16 Matt Thompson, 17 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 18 James Hudson, 19 Mark Wilson, 20 Warren Fury, 21 Waisea Luveniyali, 22 James Fitzpatrick.
Referee: Eddie Hogan-O’Connell, IRFU
