Rob Sidoli has warned his Newport Gwent Dragons teammates that Zebre are more than capable of upsetting the odds at Rodney Parade on Friday.

The Italian side won their first-ever RaboDirect PRO12 match against Cardiff Blues on their last trip to Wales and lock Sidoli believes lightning could strike twice.

In order to avoid that ignominy the Dragons have made a number of changes from their 23-9 defeat to Munster last time out.

Winger Adam Hughes steps up from the bench while Hallam Amos is also brought back into the team along with international scrum-half Richie Rees and fly-half Jason Tovey.

The front row has also had a bit of a reshuffle with Owen Evans and Sam Parry stepping in alongside Franciso Chaparro while Sidoli returns to the second row for his first start of the season.

And the Welsh international is hoping the result at Rodney Parade stays true to recent form, with the Dragons having won their last four games against Italian opponents in all tournaments since losing out to Treviso in the RaboDirect PRO12 last December.

“We need to put everything in place and perform,” said Sidoli. “Zebre have improved a lot, I think that they are a genuine threat as they had a really good result against the Blues which was away for them.

“They have some really good individuals and their core basics are very strong; they will have a good driving line outs and scrum so those are the things we need to get up to speed on quite quick.”

Zebre’s joy was cut short at home to Glasgow Warriors last weekend and they have also made changes following the 24-17 defeat.

Winger Dion Berryman, Italian international centre Gonzalo Garcia and hooker Davide Giazzon all return and captain Marco Bortolami is looking to follow up their historic victory over the Blues with another away day triumph.

“Those last three games have shown that we can achieve points against any opponent if we take the field at our 100 per cent,” he said.

“We must have the attitude to put pressure on any team. We scored eight tries in different ways, this demonstrates the ability of this team to attack and not only to defend.”

At Rodney Parade, 7.15pm.
Referee: Matteo Liperini (FIR, 4th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Simon Rees, Gwyn Morris (both WRU)
Citing Commissioner: Russell Howell (WRU)