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Club captain Jack Carty will line out for Connacht for the 200th time on Saturday, after he was named to start against Saracens in the Investec Champions Cup tomorrow in London (k/o 1pm).
The Roscommon native made his debut in September 2012 and became club captain last year, while he is also the club’s all-time record points scorer. He will now become the sixth player to reach the 200 cap milestone for the province, after John Muldoon, Michael Swift, Denis Buckley, Kieran Marmion and Tiernan O’Halloran.
Also named is Gavin Thornbury - who makes his return exactly one year to the day since a serious knee injury against Brive last season – and Shayne Bolton who makes an appearance for the first time in the campaign.
Also coming into the starting 15 from last weekend are props Jordan Duggan and Jack Aungier, flanker Conor Oliver, number 8 Paul Boyle, centre Tom Farrell and full-back John Porch.
Commenting ahead of the game, head coach Pete Wilkins says:
“As players and coaches we were very blunt in our review of last weekend, with honesty and ownership about how the game got away from us. The reaction from the group in training this week has been excellent and we look forward to getting out there and delivering a performance befitting of our ambitions this season. Saracens are a world-class outfit with a fine European pedigree, so there’s no better place to challenge ourselves and show what we’re about.”
CONNACHT RUGBY MATCHDAY 23 VS SARACENS
13:00, Saturday 16th December 2023 @ StoneX Stadium
15. John Porch (183)
14. Byron Ralston (23)
13. Tom Farrell (103)
12. Bundee Aki (128)
11. Shayne Bolton (5)
10. Jack Carty (199) (C)
9. Caolin Blade (178)
1. Jordan Duggan (42)
2. Dave Heffernan (185)
3. Jack Aungier (56)
4. Darragh Murray (15)
5. Gavin Thornbury (71)
6. Cian Prendergast (54)
7. Conor Oliver (70)
8. Paul Boyle (86)
16. Dylan Tierney-Martin (30)
17. Denis Buckley (235)
18. Finlay Bealham (193)
19. Joe Joyce (7)
20. Jarrad Butler (118)
21. Michael McDonald (1)
22. JJ Hanrahan (7)
23. Diarmuid Kilgallen (21)
