RUGBY:THERE ARE some interesting Irish subplots to a fixture that sees Eric Elwood's Connacht get rare yet welcome exposure to the Sky Sports cameras.
Conor O’Shea is the man charged with steadying the Harlequins ship in the wake of the drawn out and highly damaging Bloodgate saga and while this is not evident in their Premiership form just yet, a comprehensive victory here would provide the momentum to keep them on course for the alternative route back on to the main stage of European rugby.
Harlequins have met Connacht before in this competition so they know the folly of under-estimating them. Nick Easter returns at number eight after a decent autumn campaign with England but his international colleague Danny Care is suspended, having been cited for stamping on Saracens’ Petrus Du Plessis in last week’s defeat at Vicarage Road.
Karl Dickson is named at scrumhalf but Care’s absence means Leinster Academy graduate Dave Moore is promoted to the bench. Moore was on the same Blackrock senior cup team as Luke Fitzgerald but moved to England last summer having been unable to make a sustained impact at home.
’Quins two Lions three quarters, Ugo Moyne and Ollie Smith, are unavailable due to injury, but the excellent Nick Evans will be expected to control matters from outhalf and put a major dint in Connacht’s European dream.
Of course, it won’t come easy as Connacht will have targeted this match from a long way out. Seán Cronin returns at hooker to a near full strength line-up, where Ian Keatley is being used at outside centre as Elwood attempts to bring another dimension to their game.
Hard to see past a home victory that would temporarily ease the mounting pressure on O’Shea’s planned revival of the Twickenham club.
HARLEQUINS: M Brown; G Camacho, G Lowe, T Casson, T Williams; N Evans, K Dickson; J Marler, J Gray, J Johnston; O Kohn, T Vallejos; T Guest, C Robshaw, N Easter. Replacements: M Cairns, C Jones, M Lambert, P Browne, W Skinner, D Moore, R Clegg, J Turner-Hall.
CONNACHT: G Duffy; B Tuohy, I Keatley, K Matthews, F Carr; M Nikora, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, S Cronin, J Hagen; M Swift, M McCarthy; A Browne, J O’Connor, J Muldoon (capt). Replacements: D Murphy, R Loughney, R Ah You, B Upton, M McComish, C Willis, A Wynne, T Nathan.
Referee: Pascal Gauzere (France).
Verdict: Harlequins to win.
