Late change to Connacht sqaud

Shane Layden has been called into the Connacht squad

Eric Elwood has been forced to make the late change to the squad that will face Leinster this evening (Saturday 8th October, the RDS, kick-off 17.00)

Eoin Griffin has withdrawn from the squad due to a recurrence of the hamstring injury that saw him replaced at half-time last weekend. Captain Gavin Duffy moves to outside centre and Matthew Jarvis comes off the bench at fullback while Shane Layden, star of the Connacht U20's Grand Slam winning team 2 weeks ago, will hope to make his first appearance for the Senior side from the bench.

19 year old Layden scored a hat-trick against Munster in the final U20 Interprovincial series match in Dubarry Park a fortnight ago. That emphatic victory meant Nigel Carolan's Connacht were unbeaten and claimed the 1st Inter-Provincial Grand Slam since 2001.

Layden's call-up shows the hard work and progress being made by the Province at agegrade level and Head Coach Eric Elwood made it clear on Monday that he would have no hesitation calling upon the young stars of the future if needed.  

Connacht XV to face Leinster (Saturday 8th October, the RDS, Kickoff 17.00 live on TG4)

15 Matthew Jarvis

14 Mark McCrea

13 Gavin Duffy (C)

12 Henry Fa'afili

11 Brian Tuohy

10 Niall O'Connor

9 Frank Murphy

1 Brett Wilkinson

2 Adrian Flavin

3 Dylan Rogers

4 Michael Swift

5 Mike McCarthy

6 John Muldoon

7 Johnny O'Connor

8 Ray Ofisa

16 Ethienne Reynecke

17 Rodney Ah You  

18 Rodney Ah You  

19 Dave Gannon

20 TJ Anderson

21 Paul O'Donohoe

22 Dave McSharry

23 Shane Layden 

Pictured: Shane Layden in action in the U20 inter-Pro against Munster 2 weeks ago (C) www.inpho.ie