Connacht Rugby can confirm the 16 players who have so far been named in the Connacht Academy squad for the 2020/21 season. Eight players will join the Year 1 programme, five of whom are Connacht-born and were part of the Connacht squad that won the U18 Club Interprovincial Championship in 2018.
They are
Donnacha Byrne,
Hubert Costello,
Eoin De Buitléar,
Cathal Forde and captain
Darragh Murray.
Joining them in Year 1 is prop
Charlie Ward, lock
Cian Prendergast and back row
Ciaran Booth.
Oisín McCormack and
Shane Jennings, who also featured in the U18 squad of 2018, move to Year 2 of the Academy along with
Declan Adamson.
Year 3 features local boys
Colm De Buitléar, who has recovered from a serious achilles injury he sustained last summer, and U20 Grand Slam winner
Dylan Tierney-Martin.
They’re joined by
Oran McNulty - who started at full-back in all three of this year’s U20 Six Nations games for Ireland – as well as
Joshua Dunne and
Seán O’Brien.
Further additions may be confirmed in the coming months.
Year 1Donnacha Byrne
Ciaran Booth
Hubert Costello
Eoin De Buitlear
Cathal Forde
Darragh Murray
Cian Prendergast
Charlie Ward
Year 2
Declan Adamson
Shane Jennings
Oisin McCormack
Year 3
Colm De Buitlear
Joshua Dunne
Oran McNulty
Seán O’Brien
Dylan Tierney-Martin