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Desperate Connacht without Dan for Leinster visit
By Sea_point February 29 2008
A make or break fixture for Michael Bradley's side as the Flash Harry's of Irish Rugby come to town. A loss means Connacht's season is brought to a premature end with HEC qualification impossible. A poor result will also increase the demands for change in the management team as Connacht Supporter will increase their demands for real progress.
 

Connacht v Leinster

Date: Friday, 29 February
Kick-off: 1930 GMT
Venue: Sportsground, Galway                                                                                  

After the most recent round of the RBS 6Nations Championship, Connacht resume their Magners League challenge Connacht, with coach Michael Bradley having made three changes and one positional switch ahead of his sides derby clash with Leinster at the Sportsground.

Keith Matthews returns to the starting line up for the first time since November, having recovered from an angle injury sustained against Cetransa el Salvador, to take his place on the right wing. Conor O'Loughlin comes back in at scrumhalf, with Conor McPhillips reverting to the bench. While in the forward pack John Muldoon moves to blindside flanker in place of the injured Michael McCarthy, with Colm Rigney coming into the side at number eight.

McCarthy is a big loss to Connacht as he has been along with another returnee Johnny O'Connor one of Connacht's high performers this season. Colm Rigney will be looking to make a more positive input this time out, having been yellow carded in the recent thrashing dished out by the Ospreys in Swansea.

Coach Michael Bradley knows that his side will need to produce a big performance if they are to succeed against leaders Leinster on Friday evening.
"They have taken a clear lead on top of the table and had a very good win last time out in the Magners League against Cardiff", he said.

"Leinster will be coming here looking to push their advantage but both sides will be looking for a lot out of the fixture."

But Bradley believes that home advantage can swing it Connacht's way after some great results from his side at the Sportsground this season.

"Leinster's visits to Galway have always produced close, exciting rugby. It's a local derby and we always look forward to the contests against the other provinces.

"We've run Leinster very close over the last couple of years including last year at home so there'll be no surprises in store for either side. We know each other very well and we know it's going to be a tough game. They'll be missing a number of players but we still expect it to be very tight.


"We'll be looking to press our home advantage and hopefully we'll come out on the right side of the score line," he added.

Of concern for Connacht Supporters yet again will be the lack of firepower out wide as Connacht continues to struggle scoring tries against decent opposition. Certainly an incredible turnaround in performance; from that witnessed by the small group of travelling supporters in Swansea will be required. And with such a small squad to choose from, losing four outside backs through injury (O'Riordan, Hearty, Treviranus and Yapp) will not help matters.

Connacht's competitiveness up front gives them an outside chance of victory, but defensive fortitude and discipline will need to be maintained for the full eighty minutes plus and any opportunity for points actually taken if Leinster are to be repelled.

As we head into the dénouement of the season, coach Bradley will be acutely aware that the patience of the ever faithful Connacht supporters has reached snapping point and that the belief that he can lead this team forward is virtually run out. Another bad loss for Connacht tonight (on the scale of Ospreys or Ulster games) and the obituaries for Michael Bradley's Connacht career will be well and truly settled.

CONNACHT:

15. G Duffy; 14. K Matthews, 13. M Mostyn,  12. M Deane, 11. A Wynne; 10. A Dunne, 9. C O'Loughlin; 1. B Wilkinson, 2. A Flavin, 3. R Morris; 4. M Swift, 5. A Farley (C); 6. J Muldoon, 7. J O'Connor, 8. C Rigney.

Replacements: 16. J Merrigan, 17. R Loughney, 18. D Gannon, 19. R Ofisa, 20. C McPhillips, 21. T Donnelly, 23. L Bibo.

Not considered due to injury: J Hearty (hip), M McCarthy (shoulder), D Riordan (hamstring), O Treviranus (leg), D Yapp (calf).

LEINSTER:

15. Luke Fitzgerald, 14. Shane Horgan / Gary Brown / Fionn Carr / Felix Jones (3 to be omitted), 13. Michael Berne, 12. Christian Warner, 11. Shane Horgan / Gary Brown / Fionn Carr / Felix Jones (3 to be omitted), 10. Felipe Contepomi, 9. Chris Whitaker (C), 1. Ollie le Roux, 2. Brian Blaney, 3. Stan Wright, 4. Trevor Hogan, 5. Malcolm O'Kelly, 6. Shane Jennings, 7. Keith Gleeson, 8. Stephen Keogh

Replacements: 16. Cian Healy, 17. Stephen Knoop, 18. Cameron Jowitt, 19. Kevin McLaughlin, 20. Chris Keane, 21. Eoin O'Malley, 22. A.N. Other (1 to be added)

REFEREE. George Clancy (IRFU), SUB REFEREE. D Wilkinson (IRFU), TOUCH JUDGE. M Black (IRFU), TMO. Dave McHugh (IRFU)

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