NEWPORT have sprung a surprise by leaving out both hugely experienced props Rod Snow and Adrian Garvey for their opening Heineken Cup clash at Newcastle on Saturday night.

Instead coach Ian McIntosh hands the job to Ceri Jones and Chris Anthony, Snow and Garvey on the bench.

Jones makes only his third start of the season and Anthony his fourth as Newport take on Newcastle for the first time.

McIntosh explained: "We're in the fortunate position of having the calibre of player in the front row to afford rotation, we've got a Wales prop (Anthony) starting. "There are no hidden agendas and I'm confident the two players will do the job. "No doubt Rod Snow and Adrian Garvey will feature in the equation of how we play the game."

The choice of Jones and Anthony means Newport have six Welsh forwards in their pack, the highest number since the huge investment over two years ago. The odd men out are skipper Simon Raiwalui (Fiji) and back row forward Peter Buxton (England).

Newport make one other change in their side, with Matthew Watkins stepping in for Ben Breeze on the wing where there is still no settled selection. "We're making a bit of a rotation, Ben had his chance last week, now it's Matthew's turn," said McIntosh.

Gareth Taylor has recovered from a knee injury and returns to a strong looking bench. Newport have been working hard this week on the line-out which was a problem at Bridgend, and on getting to grips with the English cup holders.

"One of the strengths of Newcastle is their line-out (the Falcons have Scotland pair Doddy Weir and Ashley Grimes) so we have to be a lot sharper," said McIntosh. "Make no mistake about it, we have worked on it."

Team: M Pini, M Mostyn, A Marinos, J Pritchard, M Watkins, S Howarth, O Tonu'u, C Jones, J Richards, C Anthony, S Raiwalui (captain), M Voyle, P Buxton, A Powell, J Forster. Replacements: N Brew, J Strange, D Burn, R Snow, A Garvey, G Taylor, J Powell. Kick off 6.15pm.

Newport under 21s are at Caerphilly tonight. Team: J Rowles (captain), M Cunningham or I Smith, H Luscombe, S Williams, B Savigar-Jones, R Gosling or S Thomas, L Lane or M Thomas, D Pattison or D Evans, G Thomas or L Pearse, R Thomas, S Waldron, R Jones, D Brake or M Popham, A Cox, R Jones or M Crell. Replacements from above. Kick off 7.15pm.