Mayo players among starters and replacements for Connacht's clash with Zebre
Connacht Rugby head coach Stuart Lancaster has named his matchday squad for the visit to Zebre Parma in the BKT United Rugby Championship.
The squad for the game, which kicks off at 3 p.m. Irish time tomorrow (Saturday), includes Mayo's Harry West and Fiachna Barrett, the former in the starting team and the latter in the replacements.
There are five changes in total from the side that started last week’s historic fixture with Leinster at Dexcom Stadium. With Billy Bohan, Darragh Murray and Cian Prendergast unavailable, they have been replaced by Jordan Duggan, Niall Murray and Sean O’Brien.
The other changes are the inclusion of Jack Aungier at tighthead prop, who replaces the injured Sam Illo, and Chay Mullins on the left wing.
Otherwise it’s as selected from last week, with Dylan Tierney-Martin at hooker in place of the injured Dave Heffernan, another Mayo man, while Josh Murphy takes his place in the second row, with Paul Boyle and Sean Jansen in the back row.
Caolin Blade and Josh Ioane continue at scrum-half and out-half, respectively, while the centre partnership of Cathal Forde and Harry West remains. The in-form Shane Jennings and Sam Gilbert complete the side in the back three.
The replacements includes two more academy players alongside Barrett - Matthew Victory and Sean Naughton. Oisin McCormack is also named in the matchday squad for the first time this season. He wears the 23 jersey in a 6-2 split on the bench.
Head coach Lancaster commented: “We were all gutted not to win last week on such a special night for the club, but we’ve had to quickly move on. The same amount of points are on offer this weekend and we know a win will keep us in the hunt for a playoff spot.
“We’re obviously missing the lads away on Ireland duty but overall we’ve been able to keep selection relatively consistent these last few weeks, particularly in the backs. It’s been a long stretch of games but we’ll do everything we can to finish it on a high and hopefully head into the next block of games with a spring in our step.”
The Connacht starting XV in full is as follows: Sam Gilbert, Shane Jennings, Harry West, Cathal Forde, Chay Mullins, Josh Ioane, Caolin Blade; Jordan Duggan, Dylan Tierney-Martin, Jack Aungier, Josh Murphy, Joe Joyce, Paul Boyle, Sean O’Brien, Sean Jansen. The replacements are: Matthew Victory, Peter Dooley, Fiachna Barrett, David O’Connor, Niall Murray, Ben Murphy, Sean Naughton, Oisín McCormack.