Connacht Select 30-Man Squad For Sale Friendly

Connacht Men’s head coach Stuart Lancaster will operate with an extended 30-man squad for Friday’s pre-season friendly against Sale Sharks at Corpacq Stadium (kick-off 7.30pm). There will be regular updates across Connacht’s social media channels.

Captain Cian Prendergast is one of the returning internationals, including Jack Aungier, Darragh Murray, Shayne Bolton, and Ben Murphy, who all made their Test debuts during Ireland’s recent summer tour.

With new head coach Lancaster bedding in, this is Connacht’s second successive pre-season outing against English Premiership opposition following last week’s impressive 54-12 behind-closed-doors win over Bristol Bears.

Sean Jansen, who continues at number 8 tomorrow, stood out in Bristol with a hat-trick of tries, while Shamus Hurley-Langton, Byron Ralston, Shane Jennings, Chay Mullins (2), and Dylan Tierney-Martin also crossed the whitewash in a nine-try triumph.

The province’s coaching team have opted for a number of changes this week to ensure maximum playing opportunities for the group, ahead of the new 2025/26 season which kicks off them at home to Benetton Rugby on Saturday, September 27.

Following a start at full-back last Friday, Academy player Seán Naughton will line out again in the number 15 jersey. He supplied the assists for both of Mullins’ scores against Bristol, including a free-flowing effort that began from a penalty-winning scrum on their own 10-metre line.

Vastly-experienced double centurions Jack Carty and Caolin Blade are set to combine at half-back, and Bolton, nearly two months on from his two-try Ireland debut against Portugal, slots in on the left wing.

Two more of the national squad’s summer tour contingent, Aungier and Murray, both feature in the tight five. Denis Buckley, the westerners’ third most-capped player of all-time with 265 appearances, will don the number 1 jersey.

Lancaster’s charges will field an athletic back row consisting of Prendergast, who won his fifth Ireland cap against Portugal, Seán O’Brien, and Jansen, the 26-year-old Emerging Ireland and Ireland ‘A’ back rower.

There are three more Academy players among the replacements – Seán Walsh, who is Connacht’s reigning Under-19 Men’s Player of the Year, Daniel Ryan, and Year 3 hooker Matthew Victory.

Speaking about his first pre-season Connacht, Lancaster said: “It’s been great. The boys have been excellent, loved coaching them. Really open-minded, wanting to develop and progress. The internationals came back and added a real energy and momentum into the sessions.

“But alongside that, we’ve had the young lads training as well, so when the internationals were away, the young lads really got an opportunity to step up and they’ve definitely done that.

“So, really pleased with the quality of the young players, the internationals coming back have been excellent, and the core group in the middle, I can’t think of a session where I’ve come away feeling disappointed or deflated because we didn’t have the right attitude or the right mindset to train.

“If we get our training habits right, then I’m confident that will lead into games. Obviously new management team, so we’re all sort of working together. Rod (Seib) has been a great addition coming from the Brumbies

“Cullie (Tucker) and John Muldoon, very good in terms of the contact area and the forward play as well. So, that’s working well. It’s been very much a rugby-first programme in terms of pre-season, so it’s great to test ourselves against both Bristol and Sale.”

CONNACHT (v Sale Sharks): Seán Naughton; Chay Mullins, David Hawkshaw, Cathal Forde, Shayne Bolton; Jack Carty, Caolin Blade; Denis Buckley, Dylan Tierney-Martin, Jack Aungier, Darragh Murray, Josh Murphy, Cian Prendergast (capt), Seán O’Brien, Sean Jansen.

Replacements (from): Eoin de Buitléar, Jordan Duggan, Sam Illo, Niall Murray, David O’Connor, Paul Boyle, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Ben Murphy, Josh Ioane, Seán Walsh, Byron Ralston, Shane Jennings, Colm Reilly, Daniel Ryan, Matthew Victory.