Change to Connacht squad to face Cardiff Blues.

Connacht Rugby suffered an injury blow when centre Keith Matthews ruptured an Achilles tendon during yesterday’s Captains run. The 28 year old, who earned is 100th cap for Connacht 2 weeks ago against Edinburgh, looks set to be out for the next 6 to 8 months with the injury. Connacht Academy graduate Tiernan O’Halloran will replace Matthews on the bench for this evening’s game against Cardiff Blues at The Sportsground.

Connacht Rugby Head Coach Eric Elwood:

“We’re all very disappointed for Keith; he’s put in a tremendous amount of work and been an integral part of our achievements this year. He was really looking forward to finishing the season on a high but unfortunately it looks like he’ll be out for a good chunk of the year now. It’s a good opportunity for one of our homegrown talents, Tiernan, to step up now and we’d like to wish Keith a speedy recovery”
Connacht XV to face Cardiff Blues – The Sportsground, Galway – KO 7.45
01 Ronan Loughney
02 Sean Cronin
03 Jamie Hagan
04 Mike McCarthy
05 Bernie Upton
06 Andrew Browne
07 Johnny O’Connor ©
08 Ray Ofisa
09 Frank Murphy
10 Ian Keatley
11 Fionn Carr
12 Troy Nathan
13 Niva Ta’auso
14 Brian Tuohy
15 Gavin Duffy

16 Adrian Flavin
17 Brett Wilkinson
18 Rodney Ah You
19 Mike McComish
20 John Muldoon
21 Mark Dolan
22 Tiernan O’Halloran
23 Eoin Griffin