Squad named for Guinness PRO14 season finale with Scarlets

21 March 2021

Squad named for Guinness PRO14 season finale with Scarlets
The Connacht management team have again opted to shuffle their squad for Monday night’s Guinness PRO14 season finale against Scarlets in Llanelli (k/o 20:00).

The side is captained by Paul Boyle in a back row that also features Conor Oliver and Abraham Papali’i. Gavin Thornbury and Niall Murray continue their second row partnership after impressive showings last weekend, and a front row of Jordan Duggan, Shane Delahunt and Jack Aungier completes the pack.

Kieran Marmion is retained at scrum-half with Conor Fitzgerald alongside him, and there are no changes at 12, 13 or 14 which are filled by Tom Daly, Academy centre Sean O’Brien and winger Ben O’Donnell. Alex Wootton is named on the opposite wing with John Porch completing the side from full-back.

Galway native Dylan Tierney-Martin could be in line to make his Connacht pro debut, with the hooker named among the replacements.

This week the squad and management underwent two rounds of PCR testing with all negative results.

Commenting on the team selection, Head Coach Andy Friend says:

“This is our final chance to give game-time to some players before our Challenge Cup and Rainbow Cup outings so I know the whole squad will be eager to impress. Thankfully our injury situation is relatively good heading into those competitions which has allowed us to try out a few new combinations.

We’d love to travel to Leicester on Saturday week with a win behind us and it’s also important to finish any league campaign on a high, so we’re looking forward to travelling to Wales and see how they perform.”

CONNACHT MATCHDAY 23 VS SCARLETS RUGBY
Monday 22nd March, Parc y Scarlets, kick-off 8.00pm

Name/Number/Caps ( * denotes uncapped)

15. John Porch (34)
14. Ben O’Donnell (3)
13. Sean O’Brien (Acad) (5)
12. Tom Daly (42)
11. Alex Wootton (17)
10. Conor Fitzgerald (30)
9. Kieran Marmion (180)
1. Jordan Duggan (9)
2. Shane Delahunt (94)
3. Jack Aungier (13)
4. Niall Murray (12)
5. Gavin Thornbury (54)
6. Paul Boyle (53) (C)
7. Conor Oliver (15)
8. Abraham Papali’i (8)

Replacements
16. Dylan Tierney-Martin *
17. Matthew Burke (19)
18. Dominic Robertson-McCoy (61)
19. Oisin Dowling (3)
20. Sean Masterson (10)
21. Colm Reilly (5)
22. Jack Carty (153)
23. Peter Sullivan (10)