Teenage talent Blair Kinghorn retains his place at fullback while Damien Hoyland and Tom Brown continue to occupy the wing berths. Michael Allen returns from injury at outside centre and Sam Beard takes the 12 jersey, with Matt Scott sidelined following injury.
The half-back pairing of Phil Burleigh at stand-off and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne at scrum half is retained, with the latter running out for his 50th cap at Rodney Parade.
An all-new front row sees the return of Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford and WP Nel from RBS 6 Nations duty, hooker Ford captaining the side in place of Mike Coman who is recovering from a calf injury.
Locks Anton Bresler and Ben Toolis remain in the second row with Jamie Ritchie again on the blindside, Hamish Watson at openside and Cornell Du Preez in the no 8 shirt.
Stuart McInally and new international cap Rory Sutherland return on the bench, which also includes the club's latest re-signing Sean Kennedy.
Speaking about his 50th appearance for the club, Hidalgo-Clyne said: "It's a great milestone for me but the biggest thing this weekend is not about me, it's about the team and the position we're in.
"We're obviously look at a top six finish and will be going all out to get the result in Newport."
Looking back over his preceding 49 caps, Hidalgo-Clyne highlighted the visit of Dragons to BT Murrayfield a year ago, in Edinburgh's European Cup semi-final win, as an outstanding moment.
"It'll be good play against Dragons again this week and hopefully repeat that performance."
The scrum half, who recently committed his future to the club for another two years, added: "We're growing as a club, we've got a good base, increasing depth and will be looking to attract even more supporters.
"We'll be back at BT Murrayfield next Friday, looking to really put in a performance against Zebre and it would be great to get as much support as possible behind us."
Edinburgh, who currently lie in seventh place in the PRO12 table, are two places and four points above their Welsh combatants. The club's only defeat in the last seven fixtures with Dragons in all tournaments came in round 21 at Rodney Parade last season, just weeks after they had beaten the Welsh outfit at BT Murrayfield in the semi-final of the European Challenge Cup.
Players not considered due to injury: Mike Coman (calf), Jack Cuthbert (knee), Grant Gilchrist (arm), John Hardie (neck/groin), Nasi Manu (neck), Fraser McKenzie (neck), Matt Scott (arm), Andries Strauss (knee/ankle), Jade Te Rure (knee).
Edinburgh Rugby v Dragons
Sunday 27 March, Rodney Parade, kick-off 2.30pm
15 KINGHORN Blair
14 HOYLAND Damien
13 ALLEN Michael
12 BEARD Sam
11 BROWN Tom
10 BURLEIGH Phil
9 HIDALGO-CLYNE Sam
1 DICKINSON Alasdair
2 FORD Ross (Captain)
3 NEL WP
4 BRESLER Anton
5 TOOLIS Ben
6 RITCHIE Jamie
7 WATSON Hamish
8 DU PREEZ Cornell
Substitutes
16 MCINALLY Stuart
17 SUTHERLAND Rory
18 ANDRESS John
19 TOOLIS Alex
20 BRADBURY Magnus
21 KENNEDY Sean
22 DEAN Chris
23 FIFE Dougie
Guinness PRO12 Edinburgh News
63x46.png){kind=logo}