Connacht and Leinster name teams for Champions Cup showdown
Connacht and Leinster have named their teams for the historic Heineken Champions Cup Round of 16 first leg clash at The Sportsground tomorrow (Friday, kick-off 8pm).
Barrymore native Jack Carty will captain the Connacht team on the evening from his customary fly-half position, while fellow Athlone man Robbie Henshaw has been selected at inside centre for Leinster.
A capacity crowd is expected to be in attendance in Galway for Connacht’s first appearance in the Champions Cup knockout stages, and Connacht head coach Andy Friend welcomes back a number of key players just in time for the occasion.
Bundee Aki returns for his first appearance since before the Six Nations, while there’s also a first start of the season for Gavin Thornbury after an impressive cameo off the bench last weekend following an 11 month absence.
Commenting on the team announcement, Friend said: "There’s a huge sense of excitement among all the players and management for tomorrow night. These are the type of games you want to be involved in, and with a capacity crowd behind us it’s going to be a great occasion and one we firmly believe we can win.
"We have over 45 players training between our Pros and integrated Academy players so that’s a great place to be at this stage of the season, and it’s given the coaches some headaches for our squad selection as well."
Having integrated some returning internationals into the line-up for last weekend's win over Munster at Thomond Park, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has added captain Johnny Sexton into the starting team.
Leinster's strength in depth is again shown by their decision to hold Jamison Gibson-Park - Ireland's first choice scrum-half during this year's Six Nations - in reserve among the replacements.
The return leg between the sides takes place on Friday, April 15, at the Aviva Stadium.
Connacht team: 15. Tiernan O’Halloran; 14. John Porch, 13. Tom Farrell, 12. Bundee Aki, 11. Mack Hansen; 10. Jack Carty (captain), 9. Kieran Marmion; 1. Matthew Burke, 2. Dave Heffernan, 3. Finlay Bealham; 4. Gavin Thornbury, 5. Leva Fifita; 6. Cian Prendergast, 7. Conor Oliver, 8. Jarrad Butler.
Replacements: Dylan Tierney-Martin, Tietie Tuimauga, Jack Aungier, Oisín Dowling, Abraham Papali’i, Caolin Blade, Conor Fitzgerald, Sammy Arnold.
Leinster team: 15. Hugo Keenan; 14. Jimmy O'Brien, 13. Garry Ringrose, 12. Robbie Henshaw, 11. James Lowe; 10. Johnny Sexton (captain), 9. Luke McGrath; 1. Cian Healy, 2. Dan Sheehan, 3. Tadhg Furlong; 4. Ross Molony 5. Josh Murphy; 6. Caelan Doris, 7. Josh van der Flier, 8. Jack Conan.
Replacements: James Tracy, Ed Byrne, Michael Ala'alatoa, Devin Toner, Max Deegan, Jamison Gibson-Park, Ross Byrne, Ciarán Frawley.
Connacht v Leinster: fixture details
Friday, April 8, The Sportsground, Galway, 8pm. Referee: Karl Dickson (England). Live on BT Sport.