It’s all change for Connacht this Sunday as they travel to Llanelli with a much changed squad for their penultimate Magners League game. 

Caption: Ronan Loughney will be anchoring the scrum once more. Pic: Sporting Occasions.

One major positive from this is that no less than 11 of those traveling are Connacht academy graduates.

Home grown talent here in the west and getting some valuable game time this weekend in a crunch tie.

Connacht are level with Ulster in the table who face Edinburgh away at 4pm on Sunday. Staying within two points of the Ulstermen will be the minimum target to set up a final day showdown in Ravenhill.

The wholesale changes are a risky ploy but a necessary one for the Connacht management who are managing a squad that have played two crunch local derbies already this week and face the biggest game in the history of Connacht rugby five days later against Toulon.

A total of 13 front line players have been left at home to recuperate with vice captain Gavin Duffy set to miss his first Connacht game of the season and captian John Muldoon also rested.

Adrian Flavin will captain the side and there is plenty of experience in key positions Robbie Morris is at tighhead, Bernie Upton in the second row and Ray Ofisa returns from injury at eight.

The local talent is the real plus, Irish Under 20 World Cup squad members Tiernan O’Halloran and Eoin Griffin start in the backline which includes Liam Bibo who making a welcome return from injury at full back.

Up front 21 year old Dave Nolan makes his debut alongside rising stars Ronan Loughney and Andrew Browne.

The bench includes Dermot Murphy, Buccaneers prop Conor Higgins and Irish under 19 international Eoin McKeown and has some valuable experience too in the shape of Johnny O’Connor.

The battle for the starting slot against Toulon at ten is now hard to call, Ian Keatley starts here, Miah Nikora is on the bench.

The Scarlets are strong even without Stephen Jones at ten. Australian international eight David Lyons captains the side and will be a key man to stop.

The game will conjure up memories of the dawn of the professional game out west when young Connacht sides traveled abroad needing to pull out all the stops to get the result.

The province is on a high and whereas normally such a radical alteration would lead to fears of a heavy defeat (witness London Irish last season) there will be a keen sense of anticipation for Connacht supporters to see how this young squad gets on.

Connacht

15 Liam Bibo
14 Tiernan O’Halloran
13 Eoin Griffin
12 Troy Nathan
11 Brian Tuohy
10 Ian Keatley
09 Conor O’Loughlin
08 Mike McComish
07 Ray Ofisa
06 Andrew Browne
05 Bernie Upton
04 Dave Nolan
03 Robbie Morris
02 Adrian Flavin
01 Ronan Loughney

Replacements:

16 Dermot Murphy
17 Conor Higgins
18 Eoin McKeown
19 Johnny O’Connor
20 Kieran Campbell
21 Miah Nikora
22 Aidan Wynne