Connacht v Dragons: Teams
Connacht have made five changes to their team to face the Dragons at the Sportsground on Friday.
Last Updated: 22/09/11 3:13pm
Connacht have made five changes to their team to face the Dragons at the Sportsground on Friday.
In the pack, Ray Ofisa comes in at number eight for the injured George Naoupu. Naoupu came off last weekend with a knee injury and is likely to be out for a number of weeks.
Dave Gannon will make his first start since his return to the Province. The 6'6 second row, who made 55 appearances for Connacht between 2005 and 2008, replaces Michael Swift who is unavailable due to illness.
After making his comeback from injury against the Scarlets two weeks ago, Brett Wilkinson makes the starting line-up, with Ronan Loughney providing prop cover from the bench.
There's a new half-back pairing, with Frank Murphy at scrum-half and Niall O'Connor at fly-half. The 24-year-old former Ulster and Ireland U20 player scored the winning penalty in Connacht's victory over the Scarlets at the Sportsground and also crossed for his debut try against Edinburgh last weekend.
Finally, Brian Tuohy comes on to the wing for Mark McCrea.
Meanwhile, Pontypool back Geraint O'Driscoll makes the step up to Pro12 Rugby for the first time as he starts at number 11 for Dragons.
The 23-year-old replaces the injured Mike Poole on the left wing. Further changes in the back division after last week's win over Aironi include: Matthew Pewtner in for Adam Hughes at 14; Pat Leach moving from 12 to 13 with Ashley Smith returning to the staring line-up at 12; and Joe Bedford starts at scrum-half with Wayne Evans on the bench.
The only change to the pack sees Nathan Williams in for Phil Price for his first start at loosehead.
Connacht:15 Gavin Duffy (C), 14 Brian Tuohy, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Henry Fa'afili, 11 Tiernan O'Halloran, 10 Niall O'Connor, 9 Frank Murphy, 8 Ray Ofisa, 7 Johnny O'Connor, 6 John Muldoon, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Dave Gannon, 3 Rodney Ah You, 2 Ethienne Reynecke, 1 Brett Wilkinson.
Replacements: 16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Ronan Loughney, 18 Dylan Rogers, 19 Mick Kearney, 20 TJ Anderson, 21 Paul O'Donohoe, 22 Mathew Jarvis, 23 James Loxton.
Dragons : 15 Martyn Thomas, 14 Matthew Pewtner, 13 Pat Leach, 12 Ashley Smith, 11 Geraint O'Driscoll, 10 Jason Tovey, 9 Joe Bedford, 8 Andrew Coombs, 7 Gavin Thomas, 6 Lewis Evans, 5 Rob Sidoli, 4 Adam Jones, 3 Dan Way, 2 Tom Willis (c), 1 Nathan Williams
Replacements: 16 Rhys Buckley, 17 Phil Price, 18 Nathan Buck, 19 Darren Waters, 20 Jevon Groves, 21 Wayne Evans, 22 Tom Riley, 23 Matthew Jones.
