Muldowney is still fresh anyway and will bring some experience between Connolly SOB and Qualter.
White has to stay in Ireland, concussed or not. With Rodney in pain, we can't afford to lose him for interpros.

connachta wrote: No, Romaine and Saba aren't listed to play Challenge Cup. They'll surely start with Eagles against Dragons selection though

Aaaaahhh...should have checked that first, cheers :side:

Accidentally Onside wrote: O'Donell came on as a loose head last night, he looks very small to me for a TH; I'd guess he's well short of six foot, more like five eight, not such an issue for a LH but THs need to be big men. So O'Donnell as sub LH and maybe White sub TH if he's available if not then Saba.

I'd have Romaine instead of Muldownney as well. Romaine needs to be blooded as he sounds like future first teamer from those I've spoken to who seen him/played against him and he certainly has the size to make an impact.

No, Romaine and Saba aren't listed to play Challenge Cup. They'll surely start with Eagles against Dragons selection though

In addition to what Borders said, 25 000 people expected

O'Donell came on as a loose head last night, he looks very small to me for a TH; I'd guess he's well short of six foot, more like five eight, not such an issue for a LH but THs need to be big men. So O'Donnell as sub LH and maybe White sub TH if he's available if not then Saba.

I'd have Romaine instead of Muldownney as well. Romaine needs to be blooded as he sounds like future first teamer from those I've spoken to who seen him/played against him and he certainly has the size to make an impact.

The big thing going there is a pack that can physically stand up to the challenge. If we go with a lot of the Eagles players I'd be worried. Have seen these lads a few times against the Eagles and they have impressed in a lot of aspects particularly up front. That's not to say they didn't utilise their backline but their forward dominance against us in some of those matches gave them the springboard they needed.

I remember seeing Matt Healy get two tries against them in his first year here when he hadn't got much gametime and everyone was wondering what he was doing in the Eagles. I also remember the first match Pat Lam was at when he arrived at the end of Eric's last season was the Eagles game against Enesei which Enesei won so he'll know as much as anyone they are no mugs.

I think our squad has more depth than other years and connachta has a decent side selected there. The likes of Muldowney hasn't had much gametime and along with the likes of George, Ronan Loughney, Harris Wright etc. would be a good core.

This is potentially a dangerous game, they will want to show they can compete at this level and will throw everything at this. We may need to soak up a fair bit of pressure before hopefully moving away from them.

Rest recover but win whatever, here's the masterplan

My team

1) Lough
2) JHW
3) Bealham
4) Qualter
5) Muldowney
6) SOB 2.0
7) Connolly
8 ) Naoupu
9) Porter
10) AJ
12) Robb
13) Parata
11) depends on who available, Carr, Poolman TOH
14) Niyi
15) Leader

16) Delahunt
17) Buckley (no choice, but if he can just play 10 min, it's better)
18) O'Donnell
19) Dillane
20) McKeon
21) Blade
22) Carty
23) depends on who available, McSharry, Carr, Poolman