Bedwas have certainly had a better start to the season than their opponents and will be confident of recording a win over the team that was comfortably beaten by Cardiff last weekend.
Newport are struggling with a number of injury problems with centre Dan Robinson, captain Gethin Robinson, fellow prop James Jones and Dafydd Morgan all out.
They will however have the services of Dragons prop Nathan Williams available from the bench as well as back row forward Hywel Stoddart. South African born Will Richards makes his first start at outside centre.
Bedwas secured an impressive 34-17 win over Swansea last weekend with wingers Ross Wardle and Matthew John bagging two tries each as they secured a bonus point victory. They will be the main danger to a Newport defence who conceded nine tries at the Arms Park on Saturday. And their performance means Rory Budina, who scored twice against Pontypridd earlier in the season, has to settle for a place on the bench.
In the remaining game, Cardiff travel to Bridgend looking for their second win of the season. After defeats to Llandovery and Carmarthen Quins in their opening two matches, Cardiff got their season back on track with a 62-17 derby win over Newport.
And they will go into the game confident of a win at Brewery Field against a Bridgend side who have lost their last two.
“It was a much improved performance against Newport and the experience of the Blues players and the way they manage a game helped us no end,” said coach Martyn Fowler.
“Our relationship with the Blues is healthy and on the back of their performances for Cardiff, players like Robin Copeland are in contention to be involved with the Blues against Treviso on Saturday.”
Despite a good win last time, Fowler expects a tough game at Brewery Field.
“You can never write Bridgend off at home,” he said. “They’re well coached and have a lot of talented youngsters. They try to play an expansive style of rugby which will hopefully suit us as we play the same way.”
After opening their season with an impressive win over Llanelli, the Ravens have been beaten by both Llandovery and Cross Keys and will be looking for a response against the Blue and Blacks. Captain Jonathon Vaughan has to settle for a place on the bench following an injury sustained in the defeat to Llandovery.
Newport: 15 G O’Driscoll 14 E Frewen 13 W Richards 12 A Davies 11 A Awcock 10 S Sneddon 9 J Leadbeater, 1 D Pattison, 2 A Brown (c) 3 A Jeffries 4 D Rosser 5 A Frampton 6 I Jones 7 C Attwell 8 H Stoddart
Replacements: R Prosser, N Williams, S Waldron, C Townsend, T Hancock, W Hodnett, R Downes, J Lavender.
Bedwas: 15 Stuart Thomas 14 Ross Wardle 13 Jack Dixon 12 Scott Williams 11 Matthew John 10 Richard Powell 9 Liam Davies, 1 Dan Preece 2 Ben Roberts 17 Matthew Pettit 4 Kyle Maiden 5 Craig Lodge 6 Aaron Harris 7 Simon Grainger (c) 8 James Thomas.
Replacements: Kristian Gay, Phil Rees, Rhys Huthcherson, Ian George, Sam Feehan, Tom Rowlands, Ethan Davies, Rory Budina.
Bridgend: 15 Jamie Murphy 14 Rhys Ward Jones 13 Nathan Edwards 12 Sam Campbell 11 Luke Morgan 10 Ben Thomas 9 Chris Williams, 1 Ken Dowding 2 Ash James 3 Jon Thomas 4 Alex Jones (c)
5 Shaun O’Rourke 6 Adam Hillier Rees 7 Lloyd Evans 8 Scott Hicks.
Replacements: Dan Sutter, Rhodri Apsee, Matt Dwyer, Lee Davies, Jonothon Vaughan, Glen Lewis, Rhys Williams, Aled Thomas.
Cardiff: 15 Joe Griffin 14 Shaun Powell (c) 13 Cory Allen 12 Max Woodward 11 Steve Cullen 10 Gareth Davies 9 Sion Hopkins, 1 Lewis Smout 2 Rhys Williams 3 Will Griff John 4 Nick White 5 James Murphy 6 Ben Roach 7 Ellis Jenkins 8 Luke Hamilton.
Replacements: Callum Lewis, Aaron Fowler, James Monck, Dan Partridge, Reuben Tucker, Garyn Lucas, Matt Smith, Lewis Reece.
