Historic weekend for Connacht

Posted on Oct 12, 2012 in Connacht

This weekend is an historical one for Connacht Rugby as we send two teams into European Rugby terrain.

While the senior squad are en route to Parma to take on Zebre in round one of the Heineken Cup, the Connacht Eagles will face Newport RFC as part of the British & Irish Cup.

This year, the B&I Cup has been expanded to 32 teams (from 24) and sees the first involvement of the Western province. Head Coach Nigel Carolan has named his side that will travel to Rodney Parade in Wales for the opening fixture tomorrow, October 13th.

The team for this weekend contains some well-known names in the starting XV. Conor Finn was part of the Irish under 20′s squad that finished 5th in the Junior World Championship in South Africa during the summer. He is joined in the centre by Tadhg Leader who is in year 2 of the Connacht Academy. Matt Healy who this season joined the club from Lansdowne RFC starts on the wing along with 22 year old James Loxton who played with the senior team in Glasgow last month in the RaboDirect PRO12 .

Scrum half Marcus Walsh played with the Connacht U20s last season and was recently contracted to the Connacht Academy.

Flanker and former Munster Academy Player of the Year Eoghan Grace will captain the side. Grace joined Connacht last season from the Exeter Chiefs and was a member of the Ireland 7′s side that travelled to the 2009 World Cup in Dubai. He was also a member of Eric Elwood’s famous U20 grand slam winning team.

Grace is joined in the back row by Dave Heffernan who is a former Irish U20′s International. Heffernan made his senior debut against the Scarlets last season. 20 year old Jonathan Gardiner will start at number 8. Originally from Wales, but with Irish parents, Gardiner joined the Connacht Academy during the summer.

Following this weekend, the Connacht Eagles will welcome Newcastle Falcons to Dubarry Park on Friday 19th October. KO is at 7.45pm and Connacht Rugby season ticket holders are granted access to all Connacht Eagles home B&I Cup games.

Connacht Eagles XV

15 Shane Layded

14 James Loxton

13 Conor Finn

12 Tadhg Leader

11 Matt Healy

10 Jack Carty

9 Marcus Walsh

1 Brett Wilkinson

2 Jason Harris-Wright

3 JP Cooney

4 Mick Kearney

5 Danny Qualter

6 Dave Heffernan

7 Eoghan Grace (captain)

8 Jonathan Gardiner

Replacements (from):

16 Kevin O’Byrne

17 Peter Reilly

18 Ultane Dillane

19 Aaron Conneely

20 Mark Dolan

21 Darragh Leader

22 Steve Macauley