Carty returns as Connacht and Munster name teams
Jack Carty will make his first appearance of the season in the BKT United Rugby Championship clash against Munster at The Sportsground tomorrow night (Friday, kick-off 7:35pm).
The Connacht captain has recovered from wrist surgery to take his place in the starting team at fly-half, with five changes in total from the side that faced the Vodacom Bulls last week.
Shamus Hurley-Langton is handed his first start, while Gavin Thornbury, Byron Ralston and Conor Fitzgerald also return to the starting XV.
Niall Murray from Brideswell and Colm Reilly from Ballinasloe are among the replacements.
The clash with Munster will see The Sportsground's new state-of-the-art synthetic surface playing host to its first fixture. Limited tickets remain on sale at connachtrugby.ie and the game in Galway will be shown live on TG4.
Looking ahead to the match, Connacht Director of Rugby Andy Friend said: "We won’t hide from the fact our performances and results haven’t been good enough. We’ve been guilty of too many unforced errors, and at this level you’re going to be punished.
"With the new pitch and our friends, family and supporters behind us, we’ll be doing everything in our power to get that first win of the season."
Meanwhile, the Munster team to face Connacht shows four changes to the side that beat Zebre last weekend.
Joey Carbery, Gavin Coombes and Conor Murray all start for the first time this season with Carbery making his first start at full-back for Munster.
Connacht team (v Munster): 15. Conor Fitzgerald; 14. John Porch, 13. Byron Ralston, 12. David Hawkshaw, 11. Mack Hansen; 10. Jack Carty (captain), 9. Kieran Marmion; 1. Denis Buckley, 2. Dave Heffernan, 3. Finlay Bealham; 4. Gavin Thornbury, 5. Oisín Dowling; 6. Shamus Hurley-Langton, 7. Conor Oliver, 8. Jarrad Butler. Replacements: 16. Grant Stewart, 17. Peter Dooley, 18. Jack Aungier, 19. Niall Murray, 20. Josh Murphy, 21. Colm Reilly, 22. Tom Daly, 23. Paul Boyle.
Munster team (v Connacht): Joey Carbery; Conor Phillips, Malakai Fekitoa, Dan Goggin, Patrick Campbell; Ben Healy, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, Keynan Knox; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne; Jack O’Donoghue, Peter O’Mahony (captain), Gavin Coombes. Replacements: Scott Buckley, Jeremy Loughman, Stephen Archer, Edwin Edogbo, Jack O’Sullivan, Craig Casey, Rory Scannell, Fionn Gibbons.