Jenkins in farewell show

Connacht v Warriors Sportsground, 6

Connacht v Warriors Sportsground, 6.30Neil Jenkins will take his final curtain call at the Sportsground this evening, bringing an end to his professional career. A points-scoring phenomenon - he's the world-record holder in Test matches - he'll be looking for one more memory to squirrel away with those exploits from his Welsh international and Lions days.

While he considers pipe and slippers, his counterpart for Connacht, Eric Elwood, will play his 149th match for the province. The former Ireland international has already declared he will commence his 17th season for Connacht when the new campaign gets under way in August, thereby guaranteeing he will become the first player to reach the 150 mark for an Irish province.

The Celtic Warriors have qualified for next season's Heineken Cup; for Connacht there is the possibility of finishing as the top Irish province in the Celtic League. Even if they fail to achieve that honour it's been a good season for the men from the west.

The home side will be without Mark McHugh, who is undergoing surgery, and this means Tim Allnutt returns to the side and the captaincy. Conor McPhillips will bid to end the season as the top try scorer in the Celtic League. He is one ahead of Cardiff's Jamie Robinson on 11 tries. Up front Christian Short makes his first start of the season for Connacht.

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CONNACHT: M Mostyn; T Robinson, D Yapp, T Allnutt, C McPhillips; E Elwood, C O'Loughlin; D McFarland, B Jackman, P Bracken, C Short, A Farley, P Neville, M Carroll, M Lacey.

CELTIC WARRIORS (probable): E Lewis; D James, S Parker, G Thomas, G Wyatt; N Jenkins, G Cooper; G Jenkins, M Davies, C Horsman, B Cockbain, R Sidoli, M Molitika, C Harris, R Bryan.

Referee: M Changleng (Scotland).

John O'Sullivan

John O'Sullivan

John O'Sullivan is an Irish Times sports writer