diff --git a/tests/containers/workbenches/workbench_image_test.py b/tests/containers/workbenches/workbench_image_test.py
index 8a70646cd..a27f098a3 100644
--- a/tests/containers/workbenches/workbench_image_test.py
+++ b/tests/containers/workbenches/workbench_image_test.py
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ def test_ipv6_only(self, image: str, test_frame):
                     ipv6_address = (container.get_wrapped_container().attrs
                         ["NetworkSettings"]["Networks"][network.name]["GlobalIPv6Address"])
 
-                    container._connect(container_host=ipv6_address)
+                    container._connect(container_host=ipv6_address, container_port=container.port)
             finally:
                 # try to grab logs regardless of whether container started or not
                 stdout, stderr = container.get_logs()
@@ -142,6 +142,9 @@ def _connect(self, container_host: str | None = None, container_port: int | None
             # HTTP 302 (i.e. `except urllib.error.HTTPError as e: assert e.code == 302`) every time
             cookie_jar = http.cookiejar.CookieJar()
             opener = urllib.request.build_opener(urllib.request.HTTPCookieProcessor(cookie_jar))
+            # host may be an ipv6 address, need to be careful with formatting this
+            if ":" in host:
+                host = f"[{host}]"
             result = opener.open(urllib.request.Request(f"http://{host}:{port}"), timeout=1)
         except urllib.error.URLError as e:
             raise e