Connacht Rugby vs Leinster Rugby
Guinness Pro 14, Round 6
The Sportsground, Galway
Friday, 8th November 2019, 19:35
TV: Live on Eir Sports/TG4
Leinster take on Connacht away on Friday night in their first inter-provincial match of the season.
It's easily Leinster's toughest game of the season so far against one of the form teams in the league. Connacht have won four from five games to lie in second place in Conference B. While Leinster were slogging it out with Zebre a fortnight ago Connacht were beating the high-flying Cheetahs in a cracking match.
Coach Andy Friend has made a big impact since he joined at the beginning of last season. After an uncomfortable season under Kieran Keane, Friend has restored some of the feelgood factor that was there in the Pat Lam years. They're playing some sparkling rugby again but there is perhaps more of a structure underpinning things too which has led to greater consistency. This got them back into the play-offs for the first time since winning the Pro14 back in 2016 and back in the Heineken Cup for this season.
They've drawn a tough pool with the French giants Toulouse and Montpellier and their old mates Gloucester (who they've met in European competition a frankly ridiculous amount of times). But they'll be looking to go into Europe on the back of a win and they've named a team which includes their two World Cup squad members Jack Carty (starting) and Bundee Aki (on the bench). Carty is named in a backline that features the in-form Niyi Adeolokun and Tom Farrell and their pack is led by skipper Jarrad Butler who is one of the most consistent performers in Irish rugby. Another Ireland international Kieran Marmion is named on the bench and he may be rethinking his rumoured move to Saracens given the London club's unfortunate news during the week. It's a shame as K-Mar properties could have been a beautiful thing.
Leinster also see some of their World Cup contingent being bled back into the side with Luke McGrath, Robbie Henshaw, Cian Healy and Andrew Porter coming into the starting lineup and Rhys Ruddock and Rob Kearney named on the bench. In the backline only James Lowe retains the same jersey from last week as Hugo Keenan and Adam Byrne come into the back three. Henshaw is named as outside centre with Joe Tomane on the inside and Ross Byrne replaces his brother Harry to partner McGrath at half back. In the pack Healy and Porter come in to start either side of Ronan Kelleher. Scott Fardy comes into the second row alongside Devin Toner and assumes the captaincy from him. Josh Murphy and Will Connors come in on the flanks with Max Deegan moving to number eight.
Leinster did the double over Connacht last season. They won a grim battle in the sportsground and then came back from 29-12 down to win a classic in the RDS just before Christmas. That was a game Connacht will still be stinging from as they were far and away the better team on the day but just threw it away in the last fifteen minutes.
The motivation from that defeat might just get them over the line tomorrow evening.
| Connacht Rugby
|
Leinster Rugby | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | Darragh Leader | 15 | Hugo Keenan |
| Niyi Adeolokun | 14 | Adam Byrne | |
| Tom Farrell | 13 | Robbie Henshaw | |
| Peter Robb | 12 | Joe Tomane | |
| Stephen Fitzgerald | 11 | James Lowe | |
| Jack Carty | 10 | Ross Byrne | |
| Caolin Blade | 9 | Luke McGrath | |
| Denis Buckley | 1 | Cian Healy | |
| Tom McCartney | 2 | Ronan Kelleher | |
| Finlay Bealham | 3 | Andrew Porter | |
| Cillian Gallagher | 4 | Devin Toner | |
| Joe Maksymiw | 5 | Scott Fardy (C) | |
| Eoghan Masterson | 6 | Josh Murphy | |
| Jarrad Butler (C) | 7 | Will Connors | |
| Paul Boyle | 8 | Max Deegan | |
| Replacements | Dave Heffernan | 16 | James Tracy |
| Matthew Burke | 17 | Ed Byrne | |
| Dominic Robertson-McCoy | 18 | Michael Bent | |
| Sean O'Brien | 19 | Ross Molony | |
| Colby Fainga'a | 20 | Rhys Ruddock | |
| Kieran Marmion | 21 | Jamison Gibson-Park | |
| Bundee Aki | 22 | Ciaran Frawley | |
| Kyle Godwin | 23 | Rob Kearney | |
| Not Considered
due to Injury |
Dan Leavy, Barry Daly, Jack Conan, Sean Cronin, Fergus McFadden |
||
| Officials | Referee: Sean Gallagher (IRFU),
Assistant Referees: Johnny Erskine (IRFU), Mark Patton (IRFU), TMO: Leo Colgan (IRFU) |
||
by Jim O'Connor, © 2019-11-07
