Preview: Connacht v Dragons

Connacht coach Michael Bradley has made five changes to his team for their St. Patrick's Day Magners League clash with the Dragons.

Michael Bradley has made five changes to his Connacht team for their St. Patrick's Day Magners League clash with the Dragons.

Winger Liam Bibo, centre Niva Ta'auso and scrum-half Conor O'Loughlin come into the backs.

Adrian Flavin takes over at hooker from Sean Cronin, who is on international duty for Ireland's final Six Nations game against Scotland, while Ray Ofisa also returns in the back row.

Tickets which were purchased for this game, which was called off on January 8 because of frost and snow, will be valid for the game on St. Patrick's Day.

Meanwhile, the Dragons will once again be led out by hooker Tom Willis while the in-form Jason Tovey continues to direct from number ten.

Head Coach Paul Turner has unsurprisingly stuck with the same back-line that helped defeat Munster in their last Magners League outing, with wing duo Aled Brew and Will Harries both looking to follow up their try-scoring performances.

Victory for the Dragons would impressively propel them up to being level on points with the Ospreys and Glasgow, who lie in third and fourth place respectively. A bonus-point win would further push them up the rankings onto the same points as league-leaders Leinster.

Form: This game, from Round 11, which was badly disrupted by snow at the start of the year, has been rearranged for 17th March. Dragons travel to Galway Sportsground to face Connacht on St Patrick's Day, a ground where the hosts have not lost since September and the visitors have not won since May 2004. Dragons will be anxious to secure the victory to continue their push for a coveted top four spot and maintain their challenge for a Play-Off place come the end of the regular season. The last three games between the two sides have all been won by the home side on the day, whilst Newport Gwent Dragons' only previous victory at the Sportsground was 32-14 on 1 May 2004. Connacht have lost just one of their last four games in all competitions: 17-19 at Ospreys in the Magners League on 21 February. Connacht's most recent defeat at the Sportsground was 6-30 to Ulster on 25 September. Dragons are undefeated in their last four games in all competitions since their 23-32 reversal at home to Gloucester in the European Cup on 24 January. Dragons have not lost to a team from Ireland since a visit to Munster in the Magners League on 27 September.

The teams:

Connacht: 15 Gavin Duffy, 14 Liam Bibo, 13 Niva Ta'auso, 12 Keith Matthews, 11 Fionn Carr, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Conor O'Loughlin, 8 George Naoupu, 7 Ray Ofisa, 6 John Muldoon (c), 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Michael Swift, 3 Jamie Hagan, 2 Adrian Flavin, 1 Brett Wilkinson.
Replacements: 16 Ronan Loughney, 17 Robbie Morris, 18 Bernie Upton, 19 Mike McComish, 20 Kieran Campbell, 21 Miah Nikora, 22 Aidan Wynne.

Dragons: 15 Martyn Thomas, 14 Will Harries, 13 Mathew Watkins, 12 Ashley Smith, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Jason Tovey, 9 Wayne Evans, 8 Grant Webb, 7 Gavin Thomas, 6 Toby Faletau, 5 Hoani Macdonald, 4 Rob Sidoli, 3 Ben Castle, 2 Tom Willis (capt), 1 Hugh Gustafson.
Replacements: 16 Steve Jones, 17 Pat Palmer, 18 Andrew Coombs, 19 Adam Brown, 20 Tom Riley, 21 James Arlidge, 22 James Leadbeater.

Date: Wednesday, March 18
Venue: Galway Sportsground
Kick-off: 18.30
Referee: Andy Macpherson (SRU)
Assistant Referees: P Fitzgibbon (IRFU), O Hodges (IRFU)