ANDREW BROWNE WILL make his long-awaited first appearance of the season for Connacht in tomorrow night’s Guinness Pro14 meeting with Ospreys at the Sportsground [KO 7.35pm, live on YouTube via TG4].
Browne has yet to play for new head coach Kieran Keane due to a persistent achilles injury, for which he eventually underwent surgery back in October.
He starts in the second row alongside James Cannon, who’s also back from a recent injury lay-off. Another player returning from injury to start against the Welsh side is out-half Craig Ronaldson.
Ireland centre Bundee Aki and scrum-half Kieran Marmion are unavailable due to their involvement in Saturday’s Six Nations game against Italy, while Quinn Roux has also remained in camp having initially been released and named among the Connacht replacements.
Connacht:
15. Tiernan O’Halloran
14. Cian Kelleher
13. Eoin Griffin
12. Tom Farrell
11. Matt Healy
10. Craig Ronaldson
9. Caolin Blade
1. Denis Coulson
2. Tom McCartney
3. Conor Carey
4. Andrew Browne
5. James Cannon
6. Eoghan Masterson
7. Naulia Dawai
8. John Muldoon (captain)
Replacements:
16. Shane Delahunt
17. Peter McCabe
18. Dominic Robertson McCoy
19. Gavin Thornbury
20. James Connolly
21. James Mitchell
22. Jack Carty
23. Pita Ahki
Ospreys:
15. Dan Evans
14. Hanno Dirksen
13. Kieron Fonotia
12. Ashley Beck
11. Dafydd Howells
10. Sam Davies
9. Tom Habberfield
1. Rhodri Jones
2. Scott Otten
3. Dmitri Arhip
4. Lloyd Ashley
5. James King
6. Olly Cracknell
7. Will Jones
8. Rob McCusker (captain)
Replacements:
16. Sam Parry
17. Nicky Smith
18. Ma’afu Fia
19. Guy Mercer
20. Sam Cross
21. Reuben Morgan-Williams
22. Luke Price
23. Joe Thomas
