Good to see Loxton back in

Jarvis at 15 is interesting, could be good to see how he gets on there.

Didn't realise Jack Carty is still in school, he must be pretty special if he's not even in Uni and is considered one of the top out halves in the province.

Good to see Dave back, hope he packs down well and gets a bit of confidence.

Hard to read things into who's in and who's out when there could be some sort of plan to play as many fringe players are possible, but again I'm wondering if Connacht given up on McCrea and TJ.

Connacht have announced the ‘A’ team that will take on their Leinster counterparts tomorrow, Wednesday 14th March at 3pm in Old Belvedere RFC. The team sees seven changes from the side that was defeated 17-7 by the Ulster Ravens in Belfast last week. There is an all new front row with former Ireland U20 prop Finlay Bealham joining Dermot Murphy and the Rodney Ah You. Rodney is making his first start since injuring his foot against Munster on St. Stephens Day. There is one change in the second row as Monivea native Conor Kindegren gets the nod alongside Mick Kearney. The back row remains unchanged with Eoin McKeon again joining Dave Heffernan and Eoghan Grace.

Buccaneers out half Jack Carty will miss his former school, Marist College’s push for a first Connacht Senior Schools Cup since 1977 as he captains the side from number 10. He is joined at half back again by former Leinster Academy scrum half Dave Moore. The centre partnership also remains unchanged with Galwegians pair Tadhg leader and Brian Murphy retaining their places. Tadhg’s brother Darragh makes his first start on the left wing. The former Bish student made his Ulster Bank League debut for Galwegians two weeks ago against UCD. He joins former Cardiff Blues wing James Loxton and Matthew Jarvis in the back three. Loxton is making his return after injury forced him off the field against the Ospreys in September.

Speaking ahead of the game, Head Coach Nigel Carolan commented: 'Last weeks performance was disappointing but tomorrow gives us a chance to put things right against what is expected to be a strong leinster 'A' team. All of these games will help our young guys in their development and exposure to this level of rugby will only benefit them ahead of next year's British and Irish Cup.'

Connacht ‘A’ XV v Leinster ‘A’, Wednesday 14th March, 3pm, Old Belvedere RFC

15. Matthew Jarvis

14. James Loxton

13. Brian Murphy

12. Tadhg Leader

11. Darragh Leader

10. Jack Carty (c)

9. Dave Moore

1. Finlay Bealham

2. Dermot Murphy

3. Rodney Ah You

4. Conor Kindegren

5. Mick Kearney

6. Dave Heffernan

7. Eoghan Grace

8. Eoin McKeon



16. Kevin O’Byrne

17. Dennis Buckley

18. Jamie Stephens

19. Brian Moylett

20. Isaac O’Grady

21. Mark Dolan

22. Matt Dever

23. Conor Fitzgibbon

I could be wrong, but I think someone isn't happy

In Round 20, Ulster will travel to Connacht on Saturday 14th April (kick off 5.15pm).

its edited. sorry about that, thought it would of been blocked :oops: :oops:

fingers crossed its not the saturday as i wont be able to go. rrrrr friday evening 8pm i guess it will be

Ulster will be announcing their final fixtures for the season at 1pm

Connacht V Ulster Weekend of 13/14/15 April. Anybody know when date/time will be fixed? Weekend only on Pro12, Connacht/Ulster sites.

connachtexile wrote: Maybe one of the Welsh teams for financial reasons? And don't the Scots 'make' a team from there clubs and put it in rather than play a real team for there league's? Could be either of those.

Apologies if im dragging this a little off topic here, but Scotland have 3 teams involved from the best of my knowledge, Currie, Ayr and Melrose. But these clubs take players from other teams who are not involved in the B&I cup for games. Its no set club that you can recruit players from either, I know some lads from my old club went to one club and some other went to another club for the B&I Cup games.

Think these might change this year as it was supposed to be based on the top 3 clubs in the league. Dundee are currently sitting in 2nd place with Gala fighting to overtake Currie for 3rd spot.

For anyone watching the Ireland v Scotland club international tonight, keep an eye out for the Scottish tighthead Alan Brown, a super player besides being a freak of nature. If it wasnt for his NIQ status, I always reckoned that he could have done a great job for Connacht.

Maybe one of the Welsh teams for financial reasons? And don't the Scots 'make' a team from there clubs and put it in rather than play a real team for there league's? Could be either of those.

It's either that or someone agrees to step aside to let us in. Not a great solution either way to be honest. With 12 entrants the English could probably do with paring down, but tough on the 12th that doesn't make it.

ummm, wrote: If we joined and no one fell out, 25 teams can easily be 5 pools of 5, pool winners and 3 best 2nd place teams go through.

Hard lines to the A's, same day up and down by coach.... OUCH!

Not very satisfactory though if they went 5x5, you could get teams in weak groups getting through to knockouts leading to more mismatches at knockouts devaluing and already under pressure competition....

Try was by some fella called Penalty. Must be from Roscommon with a name like that.

17-7 to Ulster was the final score if anyone didn't hear. Don't know who got the try. Was 12-0 to Ulster at ht.

I was wondering if that's actually true, though.

There are 24 teams, with 4 pools of 6. Top two from each pool goes through to the quarter finals.

If we joined and no one fell out, 25 teams can easily be 5 pools of 5, pool winners and 3 best 2nd place teams go through.