PERCY Montgomery makes his long awaited debut in Newport colours when he starts for the United against Swansea Athletic at Rodney Parade tomorrow night.

The 50-times capped South African full-back finally makes his first appearance almost a month after his arrival in this country.

He will have to wait a similar time for his first senior team appearance because he is not eligible for the back-to-back Heineken Cup matches against London Irish on December 7 and 15.

Also returning tomorrow night are Ian Gough, Jason Jones-Hughes and Jonathan Pritchard who have all been on the injured list for lengthy periods.

Newport are keen to give the trio a run and if they come through they are also likely to feature in Saturday's friendly at Cambridge University.

That will be a dress rehearsal for the first game against London Irish, who are fresh from their 27-7 hammering of Leicester yesterday.

Montgomery is not likely to play at Cambridge because of his unavailability for the London Irish game, but will probably appear for the United again in Saturday's home game against London Welsh Druids.

Players not considered for tomorrow's game are skipper Simon Raiwalui, Rod Snow and Andy Marinos, who have all been on international duty; Mike Voyle, who has returned temporarily to New Zealand; Nathan Palmer, Llyr Lane and Rhys Jones, who are with the Wales Sevens squad in Dubai and Durban and members of the Wales under-21 squad who face New Zealand on Friday.

Newport squad for Swansea Athletic game: P Montgomery, M Pini, M Mostyn, L Nabaro, A Cadwallader, J Jones-Hughes, H Luscombe, J Pritchard, S Howarth, J Strange, O Tonu'u, D Burn, D Pattison, C Jones, P Young, J Richards, A Garvey, C Anthony, M Veater, I Gough, J Powell, A Powell, S Ojomoh, G Gravell, J Forster. Kick off 7.30pm.

Two of Newport's three Welsh League games over the Christmas and New Year period have been rearranged.

The home game against Bridgend on December 21 has been brought forward to the Friday night, kick off 7.05pm.

And the Cardiff home fixture arranged for Monday December 30 has been put back to New Year's Day, kick off 5.30pm. Both matches will be televised live.

The Boxing Day league match against Llanelli at Stradey Park will kick off at 3.15pm.