Connacht Eagles Side Shows Seven Changes
Head coach Mossy Lawler has named his Connacht Eagles side ahead of round 4 of the British & Irish Cup and the trip to play the Ospreys Premiership Select on Sunday (kick-off 2pm).
There are seven personnel changes compared to the Connacht Eagles team that lined out against the same opposition in the home fixture just six days ago.
This week’s Eagles squad is made up of three Connacht senior players, 12 from the Academy, four from the sub-Academy and three players from local clubs around the province.
Colm de Buitlear, Jack Harrington and Conor Lowndes are all introduced into the back-line, while Buccaneers’ Jordan Conroy, who ran in two excellent tries against the Welshmen last week, is retained on the left wing.
Up front, Jack Dinneen and Pat O’Toole make up an all-Academy front row with Saba Meunargia. Cian Romaine joins Eagles captain Daniel Qualter in the second row, and Marc Kelly has senior players Rory Moloney and James Connolly for company in the back row.
Commenting on Sunday’s B&I Cup match at Aberavon RFC, Mossy Lawler said: “We were extremely disappointed with the way we let last weekend’s game slip at the end. We had enough of the ball but we just made far too many errors.
“The great thing about these back-to-back fixtures is that you get a chance to test yourself against the same opposition straight away and look to right the wrongs of last week. We know we created opportunities at the Sportsground, but we need to execute them now in Wales on Sunday.”
CONNACHT EAGLES (v Ospreys Premiership Select): Matthew Byrne (Galwegians); Colm de Buitlear (Corinthians), Jack Harrington (Young Munster), Ed O’Keeffe (Galwegians), Jordan Conroy (Buccaneers); Luke Carty (Buccaneers), Conor Lowndes (Buccaneers); Jack Dinneen (Galwegians), Pat O’Toole (Corinthians), Saba Meunargia (Buccaneers), Cian Romaine (Buccaneers), Daniel Qualter (Buccaneers) (capt), Marc Kelly (Galwegians), Rory Moloney (Buccaneers), James Connolly (Corinthians).
Replacements: Shane O’Hehir (Sligo), Jason East (Galwegians), Cillian Gallagher (Sligo), Stephen McVeigh (Buccaneers), Stephen Kerins (Corinthians), Conor McKeon (Buccaneers), Joe Murphy (Corinthians).