diff --git a/VERSION.txt b/VERSION.txt
index b20257c556f..6e4f2edf805 100644
--- a/VERSION.txt
+++ b/VERSION.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 
 jetty-7.1-SNAPSHOT
  + 294563 Websocket client connection
+ + 297104 Improve handling of CONNECT method
  + 306349 ProxyServlet does not work unless deployed at /
  + 307847 Fixed combining mime type parameters
  + 307898 Handle large/async websocket messages
diff --git a/jetty-http/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http/HttpURI.java b/jetty-http/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http/HttpURI.java
index 47c67c1a483..52b7b57cc59 100644
--- a/jetty-http/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http/HttpURI.java
+++ b/jetty-http/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http/HttpURI.java
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ package org.eclipse.jetty.http;
 
 import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 
+import javax.net.ssl.HostnameVerifier;
+
 import org.eclipse.jetty.util.MultiMap;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.util.StringUtil;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.util.TypeUtil;
@@ -110,6 +112,80 @@ public class HttpURI
         parse2(raw,offset,length);
     }
     
+
+    public void parseConnect(byte[] raw,int offset, int length)
+    {
+        _rawString=null;
+        _encoded=false;
+        _raw=raw;
+        int i=offset;
+        int e=offset+length;
+        int state=AUTH;
+        int m=offset;
+        _end=offset+length;
+        _scheme=offset;
+        _authority=offset;
+        _host=offset;
+        _port=_end;
+        _portValue=-1;
+        _path=_end;
+        _param=_end;
+        _query=_end;
+        _fragment=_end;
+        
+        loop: while (i<e)
+        {
+            char c=(char)(0xff&_raw[i]);
+            int s=i++;
+            
+            switch (state)
+            {
+                case AUTH:
+                {
+                    switch (c)
+                    {
+                        case ':':
+                        {
+                            _port = s;
+                            break loop;
+                        }
+                        case '[':
+                        {
+                            state = IPV6;
+                            break;
+                        }
+                    }
+                    continue;
+                }
+
+                case IPV6:
+                {
+                    switch (c)
+                    {
+                        case '/':
+                        {
+                            throw new IllegalArgumentException("No closing ']' for " + StringUtil.toString(_raw,offset,length,URIUtil.__CHARSET));
+                        }
+                        case ']':
+                        {
+                            state = AUTH;
+                            break;
+                        }
+                    }
+
+                    continue;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (_port<_path)
+            _portValue=TypeUtil.parseInt(_raw, _port+1, _path-_port-1,10);
+        else
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("No port");
+        _path=offset;
+    }
+    
+    
     private void parse2(byte[] raw,int offset, int length)
     {
         _encoded=false;
diff --git a/jetty-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/HttpConnection.java b/jetty-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/HttpConnection.java
index e704d2bc430..91d25509b12 100644
--- a/jetty-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/HttpConnection.java
+++ b/jetty-server/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/HttpConnection.java
@@ -836,7 +836,20 @@ public class HttpConnection implements Connection
 
             try
             {
-                _uri.parse(uri.array(), uri.getIndex(), uri.length());
+                switch (HttpMethods.CACHE.getOrdinal(method))
+                {
+                  case HttpMethods.CONNECT_ORDINAL:
+                      _uri.parseConnect(uri.array(), uri.getIndex(), uri.length());
+                      break;
+                
+                  case HttpMethods.HEAD_ORDINAL:
+                      _head=true;
+                      // fall through
+                      
+                  default:
+                      _uri.parse(uri.array(), uri.getIndex(), uri.length());
+                }
+                
                 _request.setUri(_uri);
 
                 if (version==null)
@@ -851,8 +864,6 @@ public class HttpConnection implements Connection
                     if (_version <= 0) _version = HttpVersions.HTTP_1_0_ORDINAL;
                     _request.setProtocol(version.toString());
                 }
-
-                _head = method == HttpMethods.HEAD_BUFFER; // depends on method being decached.
             }
             catch (Exception e)
             {
diff --git a/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/HttpConnectionTest.java b/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/HttpConnectionTest.java
index a779b79a33a..820590fbc09 100644
--- a/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/HttpConnectionTest.java
+++ b/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/HttpConnectionTest.java
@@ -491,6 +491,31 @@ public class HttpConnectionTest extends TestCase
         }
 
     }
+    
+    public void testCONNECT()
+    {
+        String response = null;
+
+        try
+        {
+            int offset=0;
+
+            response=connector.getResponses("CONNECT www.webtide.com:8080 HTTP/1.1\n"+
+                                           "Host: myproxy:8888\015\012"+
+                                           "\015\012");
+            System.err.println("RESPONSE:"+response);
+            offset = checkContains(response,offset,"HTTP/1.1 200");
+
+        }
+        catch (Exception e)
+        {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+            assertTrue(false);
+            if (response!=null)
+                 System.err.println(response);
+        }
+
+    }
 
     private int checkContains(String s,int offset,String c)
     {
diff --git a/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/HttpURITest.java b/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/HttpURITest.java
index 88c8b5bfa0e..e6ec0ae50b5 100644
--- a/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/HttpURITest.java
+++ b/jetty-server/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/server/HttpURITest.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ package org.eclipse.jetty.server;
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
 
 import org.eclipse.jetty.http.HttpURI;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.io.ByteArrayBuffer;
 
 public class HttpURITest extends TestCase
 {
@@ -185,4 +186,34 @@ public class HttpURITest extends TestCase
             
         }
     }
+
+    String[][] connect_tests=
+    { 
+       /* 0*/ {"  localhost:8080  ","localhost","8080"}, 
+       /* 1*/ {"  127.0.0.1:8080  ","127.0.0.1","8080"}, 
+       /* 2*/ {"  [127::0::0::1]:8080  ","[127::0::0::1]","8080"}, 
+       /* 3*/ {"  error  ",null,null}, 
+       /* 4*/ {"  http://localhost:8080/  ",null,null}, 
+    };
+    
+    public void testCONNECT()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        HttpURI uri = new HttpURI();
+        for (int i=0;i<connect_tests.length;i++)
+        {
+            try
+            {
+                ByteArrayBuffer buf = new ByteArrayBuffer(connect_tests[i][0]);
+                uri.parseConnect(buf.array(),2,buf.length()-4);
+                assertEquals("path"+i,connect_tests[i][1]+":"+connect_tests[i][2],uri.getPath());
+                assertEquals("host"+i,connect_tests[i][1],uri.getHost());
+                assertEquals("port"+i,Integer.parseInt(connect_tests[i][2]),uri.getPort());
+            }
+            catch(Exception e)
+            {
+                assertNull("error"+i,connect_tests[i][1]);
+            }       
+        }
+    }
 }