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Connacht players in Ireland A and Connacht A games

Connacht V Leinster
By LDTT February 4 2008
As the majority of the Connacht players get a break during the six nations, Connacht have lined up an 'A' representative game against the Leinster reserves. And since Duffy, O'Connor, Flavin, Dunne and Riordan are all involved with the national sides, Connacht have been able to give an extended squad a chance to shine.

Firstly to the Ireland A game against the Saxons, and I thought there was a strong case for Danny Riordan to be brought on to the wing after Varndell's first try. Unfortunately, the coaches continued with Murphy, only to see the hapless wing way Varndell past for another try about 15 minutes later.

Former Connacht scrum half Chris Keane also came off the bench with minutes to spare. With hardly any chance to make an impact on the game, both substitutions were poorly timed and thus denied Ireland the chance to get back in the game.

So Ireland A were well beaten in the end, having led at half-time. One would hope for a better outing for Connacht A in their meeting with the old enemy Leinster in Galway on Tuesday afternoon. Due to work commitments, I won't be attending the game, but I'm sure a number of fans will be interested in seeing Australian Liam Bibo playing as well as Connemara's irish qualified Kiwi out half Troy Nathan.

Still Leinster are bringing the likes of Warner, Willis, Blaney and Jowitt down to Galway so don't expect an easy game. Hopefully a couple of our younger boys can step up to the mark and we can get a confidence boosting win to take into the Ospreys game on Friday week.

The teams for the A game are:

Connacht 'A' team to face Leinster 'A':
15. Peter Durcan
14. Sean Carey
13. Liam Bibo
12. Alipate Tuilevuka
11. Alan Gaughan
10. Troy Nathan
9. Robbie Shaw

1. John Lyne
2. Joe Merrigan
3. Kevin Moran
4. Andrew Browne
5. David Gannon
6. Liam Casserly
7. Ray Ofisa
8. Colm Rigney

16. Conor Muldoon
17. Brian McGovern
18. Joe Moran
19. Trevor Conneely
20. Tom Tierney/Conor O'Loughlin
21. Tim Donnelly
22. Darren Classens


Leinster 'A' (starting 15):
15. Ross McCarron
14. A N Other
13. Christian Warner
12. Michael Berne
11. Fionn Carr
10. Ian Keatley
9. Cillian Willis

1. Ronan Keatley
2. Brian Blaney
3. Juan Francisco Gomez
4. Devin Toner
5. Shane McInerney
6. Cameron Jowitt
7. Sean O'Brien
8. Kevin McLaughlin

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