While the senior team welcome Stade Toulousain to the Sportsground tomorrow in the Heineken Cup, the Connacht Eagles are traveling to England to play Bedford Blues at Goldington Road in round four of the British & Irish Cup.
Following an impressive 17-8 win over the Blues in the last round, the Eagles lie in second place in pool 3 – one point behind leaders Rotherham Titans.
Coaches Nigel Carolan and Jimmy Duffy have made four changes from last week for tomorrow’s 2pm kick off. Scrum-half Marcus Walsh will start tomorrow in an otherwise unchanged back line.
Up front, Dave Heffernan and Peter Reilly are promoted from the bench to the front row while Aaron Conneely makes a return from injury to take his place in the back row.
Bedford Blues v Connacht Eagles: Kick-off at Goldington Road is at 2pm on Saturday, December 14th.
Connacht Eagles’ lineup v Bedford Blues
15 Shane Layden
14 David Panter
13 Conor Finn
12 Brian Murphy
11 Steve Macauley
10 Jack Carty (captain)
9 Marcus Walsh
1 Finlay Bealham
2 Dave Heffernan
3 Peter Reilly
4 Dave Nolan
5 Danny Qualter
6 Sean O’Brien
7 Aaron Conneely
8 Eoghan Masterson
Replacements (from):
16 James Rael
17 Saba Meunargia
18 Ultane Dillane
19 Conor Kindregan
20 Caolin Blade
21 Tadhg Leader
22 Rory Parata
British & Irish Cup Fixtures
Round 1
Llanelli RFC 76 v 14 Connacht Eagles Sat 12th Oct 2012 KO 2pm Parc y Scarlets
Round 2
Connacht Eagles 27 v 25 Rotherham Titans Sat 19th Oct 2012 KO 2.30pm The Sportsground
Round 3
Connacht Eagles 17 v 8 Bedford Blues Sat 7th Dec 2012 KO 2.30pm The Sportsground
Round 4
Bedford Blues v Connacht Eagles Sat 14th Dec 2012 KO 2pm Goldington Road
Round 5
Rotherham Titans v Connacht Eagles Sat 11th Jan 2013 KO 2pm Clifton Lane
Round 6
Connacht Eagles v Llanellii Sat 18th Jan 2013 KO 2pm The Sportsground