I think scotland were playing some tier two nations but regardless afaik Ireland are the only nation with a genuine player welfare protocol which affects provincial selection. Some might say that its unnecessarily dogmatic, as Marmion can't start because his three minutes in South Africa were deemed too draining to allow him to play tomorrow.

Didn't watch Scotland this Summer but I assume they had Summer internationals no more than we did. So are their player welfare rules different to ours?

Very excited about the first game back, simultaneously feels like we've been waiting for rugby for ages and also that the final was just a couple of weeks ago! The team looks tasty, really excited to see what Kelleher is like, I love Marmion but Blade is a fantastic prospect and its important he starts to feature a lot more from now on. I really hope that Qualter can push on this season, he's been given probably more time than any other player to mature in the academy and really needs to start rewarding Connacht with some performances.

Glasgow have named a really strong team, Sam Johnson is the only name that doesn't stand out as an experienced provincial and international player, Sarto is a quality winger to be able to sign. Their tighthead is highly rated but still just 20, I think we should be able to edge them in the scrum.

Glasgow Team:

15. Stuart Hogg
14. Leonardo Sarto
13. Alex Dunbar
12. Sam Johnson
11. Tommy Seymour
10. Peter Horne
9. Henry Pyrgos (Co-captain)

1. Gordon Reid
2. Pat MacArthur
3. Zander Fagerson
4. Tim Swinson
5. Jonny Gray (Co-captain)
6. Rob Harley
7. Simone Favaro
8. Ryan Wilson

Replacements

16. Corey Flynn
17. Ryan Grant
18. Sila Puafisi
19. Tjiuee Uanivi
20. Lewis Wynne
21. Ali Price
22. Rory Clegg
23. Sean Lamont

Stats man wrote: based around Camden St,

I'd say Sinnotts would be a good bet off Grafton Street and usually a good atmosphere there on a sat afternoon. They have a god few screens.

based around Camden St,

Stats man wrote: Any advise where to watch the match in dublin??

Where in Dublin are you based Stats man?

I cannot wait to see Kelleher will be interesting to see how he goes against Hogg plus he brings even more pace to the back 3!!!!!!!!

The woolshed will have a screen id say

Any advise where to watch the match in dublin??

Stronger then expected, with Marmion, Utlan, Finlay, Healy
2nd row will be tested (Dillane/Qualter inexperienced, Dillane/Stevenson not much trained, only 4 weeks of pre-season since Montpellier)
Kelleher vs Hogg is the main worriness
Front-row, back-row are close to the best in Pro12. I'm pretty confident we should have the upper hand for midfield and wing too.
I'm pessimistic by nature, so it should be a good sign if I think we're favorite with that team.
All will rely on scrum and quality of support in the ruck IMO. It depends which squad is better prepared...

Question : if O'Leary has to come in for Jack, who will provide cover for the back-three?

Not a bad team considering. Half backs performance will decide this imho.

Very strong Glasgow team.

Connacht team to face Glasgow Warriors, Saturday 3rd September, the Sportsground, 5:15pm

15 Cian Kelleher
14 Niyi Adeolokun
13 Eoin Griffin
12 Bundee Aki
11 Matt Healy
10 Jack Carty
9 Caolin Blade

1 Denis Buckley
2 Tom McCartney
3 Finlay Bealham
4 Ultan Dillane \o/
5 Danny Qualter
6 Eoin McKeon
7 Nepia Fox-Matamua
8 John Muldoon (captain)

Replacements:

16 Dave Heffernan
17 Ronan Loughney
18 JP Cooney
19 Lewis Stevenson
20 James Connolly
21 Kieran Marmion
22 Shane O’Leary
23 Peter Robb

Injured/Unavailable: Nathan White, Conor Carey, Quinn Roux, Andrew Browne, Ben Marshall, Jake Heenan, Sean O’Brien, Eoghan Masterson, John Cooney, Craig Ronaldson, Marnitz Boshoff, Darragh Leader

Well last training pics seem to indicate Marmion, Heffernan, McCoy, TOH won't play, and Kerrins, Dillane, Delahunt, Bealham, one of Carey/J.P and Matt will.
Just a fragile indication, but it would mean

15. Cian Kelleher/Josh Rowland
14. Niyi Adeolokun
13. Eoin Griffin
12. Bundee Aki
11. Danie Poolman
10. Jack Carty
09. Caolin Blade

01. Denis Buckley
02. Tom McCartney
03. Finlay Bealham
04. Lewis Stevenson
05. Ultan Dillane
06. Eoin McKeon
07. Nepia Fox Matamua
08. John Muldoon (captain)

16. Shane Delahunt
17. Ronan Loughney
18. Conor Carey/ J.P Cooney
19. Daniel Qualter
20. James Connolly
21. Stephen Kerrins
22. Shane O'Leary
23. Matt Healy

EnricoPalazzo wrote: Good news regarding the internationals

Lam confirmed the players who travelled with Ireland to South Africa this summer, excluding Roux but including Dillane, will be available to him this weekend, but their game time will have to be monitored closely in the opening weeks of the season under the IRFU’s player welfare protocols

www.irishexaminer.com/sport/rugby/connac...mounting-418652.html

So Finlay TOH and Marmion to start ? huge relief
With Dillane, I'd have Qualter (for this game), Stevenson has barely played rugby since February, and arrived very late in pre-season.. Probably not much energy in the tank yet... Impact off the bench would be better than average performence after half-time

Good news regarding the internationals

Lam confirmed the players who travelled with Ireland to South Africa this summer, excluding Roux but including Dillane, will be available to him this weekend, but their game time will have to be monitored closely in the opening weeks of the season under the IRFU’s player welfare protocols

www.irishexaminer.com/sport/rugby/connac...mounting-418652.html

Looks like we have a lot of injuries . That said a lot of young talent coming thru. Will simply be interesting to see how, I would rate, a secondary Connacht team will compete this weekend. It will suggest much on how our season will go

Ok there's some discussion on injuries etc. in the Connacht squad thread, so thought I'd start a new topic for the game itself since any time I see a number of new posts in that thread I get excited thinking we've made a new signing.

Honestly I didn't want this summer to end as once Friday comes around its back to square 1 for everyone. Very tough game to start. 14 home wins out of 15 in all competitions obviously played a huge role in our success last season. First game of the season has generally been good for us in the past but this is our toughest opening day game in years.

We know the quality Glasgow have and they want to play rugby. Conditions might dictate against that on Saturday though. They were more than deserving champions in 2014/15 and defended their crown strongly last season. While we deserved to beat them in the two games last May, they were a bit unlucky with circumstances in both the final game of the regular season and obviously in the opening minute of the semi-final. However, I've great respect for how they took their defeat with good grace.

Getting 32 points on the board in the opening 8 games last year stood us in good stead during our December/January wobble/injury crisis. There is no World Cup this year and the start looks tough on paper. Keeping the home record strong will be once again key to our success. While it'd be good to have a handy home game to start, it feels great to be starting the season with a big game, get the season up and running with a bang. In past seasons its been hard to get the interest from the crowds or TV early in the season.

Will be interesting to see how both teams line up.