NEWPORT Gwent Dragons hope to have four internationals back in their side for Saturday's Heineken Cup tie against Percy Montgomery's Perpignan at Rodney Parade (1.30pm).

A threadbare squad travelled to Reading to take on London Irish with 15 players missing due to injury and they emerged with credit after achieving a losing bonus point for scoring four tries.

They now face their final pool match against an ever-improving Perpignan side who trounced Treviso 55-13 on Saturday whereas the Dragons struggled against the Italian champions, winning narrowly there and just losing at home.

But they are hoping skipper Colin Charvis, full back Kevin Morgan, scrum half Andy Williams and prop Rhys Thomas will all be back after missing the London Irish match with minor injuries.

They also hope centre Ashley Smith will recover from the back injury which forced him off in the second half at the Madejski Stadium.

But the Dragons will still be without Martyn Thomas, Rhodri Davies, Gareth Maule, Jamie Corsi, Lee Harrison, Luke Charteris, Richard Parks, Jamie Ringer, Dan Lydiate and Nic Fitisemanu.

Dragons coach Paul Turner is expecting Perpignan, who still have a chance of making the quarter-finals, to be a vastly different proposition from the side they played in their first Heineken Cup-tie when they only just lost 23-19 at the Stade Aime Giral on November 9.

"We should have won over there, but it was early days for them then and they've regrouped," said Turner who hopes to sort out a new contract with the Dragons this week.

"With their budget they were always going to get better. They are a big side who are able to rest players and keep them fresh whereas we're not, we're having to rely on young kids.

"We're capable of beating them at home if we play well, but if we don't sort out our defence on dry days we won't win any game.

"We beat Perpignan a few years ago people keep telling me, but they've got to understand teams move on. We missed a chance there, the South Africans hadn't arrived and other quality guys weren't playing. It's not a dead rubber for them, there's something on it. Let's make no bones about it, a real quality side is coming."

Montgomery kicked two conversions for Perpignan against Treviso, their first choice kicker being outside half Cedric Rosalen, who played in the first game against the Dragons. He played for Newport and the Dragons for three seasons before returning to South Africa and was one of the stars of their World Cup winning team.