Swift Becomes League's Most-Capped Player

Connacht second row Michael Swift has become the RaboDirect PRO12's most-capped player of all-time, following his latest appearance in the competition against the Scarlets last Friday.

Following last Friday's clash with the Scarlets in Llanelli, Michael Swift overtook former record holder Deiniol Jones of the Cardiff Blues as the player with the most appearances in the league.

Lock Jones, who has 13 Welsh caps to his name, has missed recent games due to a shoulder injury allowing Connacht's most-capped player Swift to claim the top spot.

'Swifty' joined Connacht in 2000, making his debut against Ulster while playing alongside current Connacht coaches Eric Elwood and Dan McFarland.

He is one of an elite group of players that were part of the very first Celtic League in 2001.

Over the last 11 seasons he has amassed an incredible 214 caps in all competitions for the province, becoming the first Connacht player to reach the magnificent 200-cap milestone against Edinburgh earlier this season.

Speaking about his achievement of playing 140 times in the league, he said: "I'm obviously over the moon to reach this milestone. The league has gone from strength to strength over the years as has the quality of the rugby played, so as a brand the RaboDirect PRO12 stands in a great place at the moment."

When pressed about what keeps a rugby player going for so long in the physically-demanding modern game, Swift added: "I suppose you could put my longevity down to a mix of good fortune and a great medical team looking after me."

Known for his ferocious tackles and towering lineout presence, the colossal 6ft 5in, 120kg lock shows no sign of slowing down just yet.

He hopes to add to his already impressive tally of caps when Connacht take on Munster at the Sportsground in a mouth-watering interprovincial derby on Saturday, March 24.

Previewing Saturday's RaboDirect PRO12 final against Leinster with Cóilín Duffy, Ulster winger Andrew Trimble said: "We really motivated for this game. People are talking about us being the best Ulster side in a few years, we had that record of 13 wins in a row at the start of the year. We want to win trophies, and there's no point having those records unless we back them up."

Connacht elite player development officer Jimmy Duffy chats about the province's latest programme, 'Grassroots to Green Shirts', which they hope will increase the number of indigenous players coming through the provincial player pathway. In the westerners' current senior squad, there are 19 players who have come through the Connacht system.

Speaking about Connacht's 'Grassroots to Green Shirts' initiative, the province's CEO Tom Sears said: "We like to think we're innovative in our approach, that we're looking at things slightly differently. We've shown that the production line is working with the young players coming through. The system is working, we just need a bit more investment to make sure we can get more players through."

Connacht's head of commercial and marketing Alex Saul talks about some exciting developments off the pitch for the province, including their 'Grassroots to Green Shirts' crowd-funding initiative which gives fans the chance to play their part in growing and developing the future stars of Connacht and Irish rugby.

Speaking after the 30-11 home win over the Dragons, Connacht head coach Eric Elwood said: "We're a little bit disappointed we didn't get the bonus point, but the good thing is we got a good victory at home and we had a great crowd. We're back on the horse and it sets us up for Harlequins (next week)."

Speaking about recovering from the disappointing defeat to the Scarlets, young Leinster centre Noel Reid said: "We went over looking for a result and we didn't perform the way we wanted to. So we need a big week now of training and focusing on the things that didn't go our way - the breakdown in particular."