Connacht Rugby Head Coach Pat Lam has named his match day 23 to face Toulouse in the final pool game of the Champions Cup this Sunday and there is good news for two Roscommon players.
Denis Buckley, who was substituted early in the game against Zebre, has been cleared to play and Jack Carty has recovered from a knee injury to take the reins at outhalf.
Overall there are five personnel changes in total from the team that lined out at the Sportsground in the bonus point win over Zebre six days ago. Peter Robb returns to form a new centre partnership with Craig Ronaldson. Up front, Ireland international Quinn Roux comes in having missed out last week while the back row is also boosted with the return from injury of flankers Nepia Fox-Matamua and Jake Heenan.
Commenting on the game, Pat Lam said:
“We are aware of the phenomenal challenge that awaits us in Toulouse on Sunday but these are the sort of games that you want to be a part of. It’s an opportunity as a player and as a team to put in a performance on the big stage.
“While the right outcome would be massive for Irish Rugby, the focus remains on executing our game plan in a pressure environment to get us the win we need.”
The Connacht Rugby squad in full is
(Connacht caps in brackets)
15 Tiernan O’Halloran (117)
14 Niyi Adeolokun (48)
13 Peter Robb (24)
12 Craig Ronaldson (57)
11 Matt Healy (83)
10 Jack Carty (70)
9 Kieran Marmion (114)
1 Denis Buckley (107)
2 Tom McCartney (55)
3 Finlay Bealham (71)
4 Quinn Roux (45)
5 James Cannon (8)
6 Nepia Fox-Matamua (15)
7 Jake Heenan (46)
8 John Muldoon (291) (captain)
Replacements:
16 Dave Heffernan (74)
17 JP Cooney (43)
18 John Andress (3)
19 Sean O’Brien (30)
20 Naulia Dawai (5)
21 John Cooney (30)
22 Tom Farrell (1)
23 Danie Poolman (78)
Kick-off is at 3:15pm (Irish Time) and the game will be shown live on Sky Sports 4.