Connacht v London Irish: IT'S A measure of the task facing Connacht in their eye-catching fixture at home to London Irish this evening that their visitors have, already this season, beaten all three of the Premiership opponents which the other Irish teams will be playing in the Heineken Cup this weekend.
Irish have also made quite a statement of intent by naming the same starting side, save for one injury-enforced change at hooker, which ran up 12 tries against Rovigo last Saturday.
Their run to the semi-finals in the Heineken Cup last season, when they pushed Toulouse to the limit, perhaps contributed to the Exiles just missing out on cup qualification again on the last day of the Premiership. So their current standing as a top-six side looks like a truer reflection of their ability.
Irish's season has clicked into gear since they moved Australian fullback Peter Hewat to outhalf when trailing 20-3 away at half-time against Harlequins three weeks ago, after which they came back to win 28-27 at the Stoop.
They subsequently beat Sale 28-6 at home, during which they scored the only four tries which Sale have conceded this season, and tonight retain only three of the starting line-up which lost to Worcester in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.
"They play a lovely brand of rugby and can get an awful lot of width into their game," admitted Connacht coach Michael Bradley yesterday, "and they've an extremely powerful pack as well. From our point of view it was the glamour fixture of the season at this point in the season, and we're well used to it.
"Leinster, Glasgow and the Ospreys have all come here with a very strong side. So it's another one of those challenges: if it goes right on the day for us we'll do very well, and if it doesn't it's going to be a very tough day at the office for us.
"Interestingly enough they have a very big pack. Their backrow are quite mobile, but we'll probably try and move them around the park a wee bit. So we need to keep the ball on the park and try and build the phases with quick ball. Slow ball will be no good for us, and if we kick to them they have a very quick back three as well."
Perhaps to that end Ray Ofisa, nominally an openside, has been recalled to a reshuffled backrow alongside John Muldoon and Johnny O'Connor. At hooker, Adrian Flavin has been given the nod against his old team ahead of Sean Cronin, who has had "a fairly full-on introduction to full-time rugby", according to Bradley.
With Mel Deane joining Keith Matthews on the sidelines, Aidan Wynne starts at inside centre in the third change from the team which beat Dax.
Qualifying for the Heineken Cup via the Magners League still remains Connacht's most viable route to their own Holy Grail. Yet the nature of this fixture demands that they put their best foot forward. Following that fine win in Dax, Connacht have home and away fixtures against Rovigo and a home game against Dax still to come in the last round. Hence, were they to cause a surprise tonight they would have an excellent chance of qualifying for the knock-out stages for the sixth time in 13 attempts, at least as one of the three best pool runners-up.
CONNACHT:F Carr; L Bibo, G Duffy, A Wynne, J Hearty; I Keatley, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, R Morris, M Swift, A Farley, R Ofisa, J O'Connor, J Muldoon (capt). Replacements: S Cronin, R Loughney, A Browne, C Rigney, K Campbell, A Dunne, D Riordan.
LONDON IRISH:D Armitage; T Ojo, E Seveali'i, S Mapusua, S Tagicakibau; P Hewat, P Hodgson; A Corbisiero, AN Other, T Lea'aetoa, N Kennedy, B Casey (capt), R Thorpe, S Armitage, C Hala'Ufia. Replacements: C Dermody, D Paice, Rautenbach, G Johnson, D Danaher, T Parker/P Richards, S Geraghty.
Referee:Jeromé Garces (France).
Previous meetings:None.
Results so far:Connacht: 30-12 v Dax (a). London Irish 78-3 v Rovigo (h).
Betting (Paddy Power):5/2 Connacht, 22/1 Draw, 2/7 London Irish. Handicap odds (Connacht + 9pts) 10/11 Connacht, 20/1 Draw, 10/11 London Irish.
Forecast:London Irish to win.
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