FOR THE FIRST time this season Pat Lam has been able to name an unchanged Connacht team as they get set to face Newport Gwent Dragons at Rodney Parade this Sunday in the RaboDirect Pro12.
Flanker John Muldoon once again captains the side from the back row alongside Eoin McKeon and 20-year-old Eoghan Masterson, who earns his fourth start of the season.
Robbie Henshaw returns from Ireland duty to start at fullback with Tiernan O’Halloran and Connacht’s record try scorer Fionn Carr making up the back three.
The league’s highest point scorer Dan Parks starts at outhalf in an otherwise all-Irish qualified squad this weekend.
Commenting on the game, Head Coach Pat Lam said:
“It’s been a while since our last outing but we’re in good shape after training hard during the break. Coming off the back of three straight wins gives us confidence but we’re very much aware that we haven’t won four in a row in quite some time.
“But we know what we need to do. We’ve targeted this next block of games and everything is about the process we go through as a team to earn the wins and valuable points to move up the table.”
Connacht: Robbie Henshaw; Tiernan O’Halloran, Eoin Griffin, Dave McSharry, Fionn Carr; Dan Parks, Kieran Marmion; Denis Buckley, Jason Harris-Wright, Rodney Ah You; Aly Muldowney, Mick Kearney; John Muldoon (captain), Eoghan Masterson, Eoin McKeon.
Replacements: Dave Heffernan, Ronan Loughney, Nathan White, Michael Swift, Andrew Browne, Frank Murphy, Miah Nikora, Darragh Leader.
