Sean O'Brien the one change from squad named to face Scarlets last weekend. James Crombie/INPHO

O'Brien in, Prendergast captain again as Connacht name team for Cardiff

Stuart Lancaster makes one change to the matchday squad that was named last weekend.

CONNACHT HEAD COACH Stuart Lancaster has made one change to last weekend’s matchday squad for tomorrow’s URC visit to Cardiff [KO 7.45pm, TG4/Premier Sports/URC TV]

The western province’s scheduled game against Scarlets in Galway last Saturday was postponed at a late stage after the Welsh side’s travel disruption.

Cian Prendergast was in line to captain Connacht in one of nine changes to the starting side which beat Benetton the previous weekend.

The named matchday squad is largely unchanged for the western province’s first away trip of the season. Paul Boyle drops out of the XV, with Sean O’Brien instead starting at blindside flanker. Shamus Hurley-Langton is named among the replacements.

“We have had a productive week of training, the boys are looking sharp, focused, and eager to get back out there,” said Lancaster. “Mentally we reset and focused on this game once we heard the Scarlets game was postponed.

“My personal experience playing against Cardiff, home or away, it’s never easy. They are well organised and coached and as we all know play a great brand of rugby so it should make for a fantastic game on Saturday night”

Cardiff, meanwhile, have made four changes following their defeat to Munster, with Keiron Assiratti, Ben Donnell, Cam Winnett and Stef Emanuel all starting.

Connacht

  • 15. Sean Naughton
  • 14. Chay Mullins
  • 13. David Hawkshaw
  • 12. Cathal Forde
  • 11. Shayne Bolton
  • 10. Jack Carty
  • 9. Ben Murphy
  • 1. Denis Buckley
  • 2. Dave Heffernan
  • 3. Jack Aungier
  • 4. Darragh Murray
  • 5. Joe Joyce
  • 6. Cian Prendergast (captain)
  • 7. Sean O’Brien
  • 8. Sean Jansen

Replacements:

  • 16. Eoin de Buitléar
  • 17. Jordan Duggan
  • 18. Sam Illo 
  • 19. David O’Connor
  • 20. Shamus Hurley-Langton
  • 21. Matthew Devine
  • 22. Hugh Gavin
  • 23. Finn Treacy  

Cardiff

  • 15. Cam Winnett
  • 14. Jacob Beetham
  • 13. Harri Millard
  • 12. Steff Emanuel
  • 11. Tom Bowen
  • 10. Callum Sheedy
  • 9. Johan Mulder
  • 1. Danny Southworth
  • 2. Liam Belcher (captain)
  • 3. Keiron Assiratti
  • 4. Josh McNally
  • 5. Teddy Williams
  • 6. Ben Donnell
  • 7. Dan Thomas
  • 8. Alun Lawrence

Replacements:

  • 16. Daf Hughes
  • 17. Rhys Barratt
  • 18. Javan Sebastian
  • 19. George Nott
  • 20. Taine Basham
  • 21. Aled Davies
  • 22. Ioan Lloyd
  • 23. Osian Darwin-Lewis

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi [FIR].

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