Henshaw selected to face table-toppers Ulster
ATHLONE’s Robbie Henshaw has again been selected in Connacht’s starting line-up for Friday’s RaboDirect PRO 12 meeting with league leaders Ulster (Sportsground, Galway, 7.45pm).
Henshaw, who has made a terrific impact on the Connacht team this year, scored his first try for the province in last weekend’s 32-24 victory over Edinburgh at Murrayfield, and is part of an unchanged team for the visit of Ulster.
Brett Wilkinson, Adrian Flavin and Ronan Loughney make up the front row trio with a total tally of 429 Connacht caps between them.
Earlier in the week, Head Coach Eric Elwood spoke about the upcoming game: “We were obviously happy with last week’s win against Edinburgh. It was a very good victory but we’re not getting carried away, as it means nothing if we can’t back it up and have consistency now in this derby match against Ulster. We have been disappointed with our away performances in the derby fixtures so we have another opportunity for four points here.
“We’re looking forward to a physical contest. You can’t shy away from the physicality. You have to be able to go toe-to-toe up front with Ulster and you have to be able to control the break-down area. And that’s key for us this weekend. We’ll have the extra spice of the derby game at home. They’re looking for a top-four finish and we still believe we have a lot to play for with three games to go.”
Connacht XV: 15. Robbie Henshaw, 14. Danie Poolman, 13. Eoin Griffin, 12. Brian Murphy, 11. Gavin Duffy (captain), 10. Dan Parks, 9. Kieran Marmion. 1. Brett Wilkinson, 2. Adrian Flavin, 3. Ronan Loughney, 4. Michael Swift, 5. Mike McCarthy,
6. Mick Kearney, 7. John Muldoon, 8. George Naoupu.
Replacements: Ethienne Reynecke, Rodney Ah You, JP Cooney, Andrew Browne, Mata Fifita, Paul O’Donohoe, Miah Nikora, Fetu’u Vainikolo.
Unavailable due to injury: Denis Buckley, Willie Faloon, Eoghan Grace, Jason Harris-Wright, Johnny O’Connor, Eoin McKeon, Dave McSharry, Frank Murphy, Dave Nolan, Kyle Tonetti, Nathan White.
*The match will be screened live on TG4 and BBC Sport Northern Ireland tonight (Friday).