Connacht team to face Northampton Saints

19 May 2017

Connacht team to face Northampton Saints

Ireland internationals Niyi Adeolokun, Ultan Dillane and Matt Healy have all returned from injury to feature in Connacht’s match day squad for the Champions Cup play-off semi-final clash with Northampton Saints tomorrow (4pm).


Head coach Pat Lam has made seven personnel changes for the knockout game in Franklin’s Gardens.

Adeolokun starts on the right wing while Danie Poolman moves in to partner Craig Ronaldson for a rare start in the centres.

Dave Heffernan and Finlay Bealham are both promoted to the front row in a week that also saw them named in Joe Schmidt’s Ireland squad for the Summer Tour.

Sean O’Brien and Jake Heenan start in the back row with captain John Muldoon at number 8.

Ruled out through injury since February, Dillane and Healy are both in line to make an appearance from the bench tomorrow.

Commenting on tomorrow's game, head coach Pat Lam said:

“Everything over the past few weeks has been geared towards this game. We know we haven’t been anywhere near our best in the last few matches and that’s been a big disappointment for us as a team. We’ve had a very positive week on and off the training pitch but we all know that the eighty plus minutes from 4pm tomorrow is when it needs to count.”

 

Connacht team to face Northampton Saints

Saturday, May 20th, kick off 4pm, Franklin’s Gardens

15        Tiernan O’Halloran

14        Niyi Adeolokun

13        Danie Poolman

12        Craig Ronaldson

11        Cian Kelleher

10        Jack Carty

9          Kieran Marmion

1          Denis Buckley

2          Dave Heffernan

3           Finlay Bealham

4          Quinn Roux

5          Andrew Browne

6           Sean O’Brien

7          Jake Heenan

8          John Muldoon (captain)

 

Replacements:

16        Shane Delahunt

17        JP Cooney

18        Conor Carey

19        Ultan Dillane

20        Naulia Dawai

21        Caolin Blade

22        John Cooney

23        Matt Healy

Injured/unavailable:  Tom McCartney, Ronan Loughney, Nepia Fox-Matamua, Shane O’Leary, Bundee Aki, Peter Robb, Stacey Ili, Tom Farrell, Eoin Griffin, Josh Rowland.

 

Northampton Saints v Connacht Rugby
Saturday May 20th
Franklin’s Gardens
Kick off 4pm

 

Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)

Live on TG4